Design your own Warhawk insignia

Leave your mark on the battlefield by designing your own Warhawk insignia and aircraft paint scheme in this great competition.

The forums at eu.playstation.com are hosting a fantastic competition to get your creative juices flowing, offering the chance to have your designs appear on Warhawk battlefields across Europe. The lucky winners will also receive a limited edition Warhawk statue from Gentle Giant Studios.

There are two sections: insignia and paint scheme, and anyone over 16 can enter either or both.

Your insignia can be anything as long as it isn't offensive, inappropriate or has already appeared elsewhere, so you couldn't use your favourite football team's badge, for example.

To create a paint scheme, download the blank aircraft template and fill it with colour using an image editor on your PC.

The best submissions will be chosen by Warhawk's game director Dylan Jobe and his team, and included on a future game update.

Click here for more information, to download the blank aircraft template and for a few examples to inspire you.

Good luck!

Fan makes his own Gunmetal PS3

Activision gears up to invade the BAJA racing circuit as well

THQ recently announced it's going to make a racing game based off of the Baja 1000 race. They aptly named the game BAJA. Now, Activision has entered the arena, demanding a piece of the Baja pie as well. Their game, titled SCORE International Baja 1000, is certainly more of a mouthful, but has more in common with Motorstorm than one may initially think.

Over 90 vehicles ranging from motorbikes to trucks grace the game along with realistic dirt and damage modeling. It certainly sounds like Motorstorm, although the real Baja race has been going on for a lot longer than videogames. In any case, this autumn you'll get to choose between Motorstorm 2, BAJA, and now SCORE IB1k. We tried to shorten it. We failed.


Twenty-nine stunning MotorStorm Pacific Rift images
Motorstorm Pacific Rift gameplay vids surface

Kaz Hirai: Sony can 're-evaluate' paying for PS3 exclusives

A long time ago, Jack Tretton mentioned that Sony will not pay for PS3 exclusivity in this generation of games. "We have a very different approach to exclusives than some of our competitors. We don't buy exclusivity. We don't fund development. We don't, for the lack of a better term, bribe somebody to only do a game on our platform," he noted. Instead, Sony tries to seduce developers to make better games on the system, and use the appeal of the PS3 hardware to secure exclusives.

This strategy has meant a bevy of formerly PS2-exclusive series to become multiplatform successes on Xbox 360 and PC. However, Kaz Hirai told ThreeSpeech "that's something that we can re-evaluate." High-profile exclusives act as differentiating reasons for system purchases. PS3 has a strong first-party line-up, but it will need to pursue third-party exclusives with an even stronger bite. However, with games being so expensive in this generation, such a proposal may be difficult. "It's also something that the publishers need to make a business decision on. Ultimately, it becomes a dialogue – if it makes sense for them to go exclusive, that's a business decision that they need to make. But generally speaking, because of the investments that publishers need to make in this round of hardware, it's going to be more difficult for publishers to make that decision."


SCE Worldwide Studios gets new president
Sony unveils the ‘Media and Events’ Home venue

Make Haze while the sun shines

eu.playstation.com catches up with Derek Littlewood, Project Lead on Haze to get the lowdown on the exciting new first person shooter game coming exclusively to PLAYSTATION 3.

Can you tell us about the setting of Haze?

The game is set in the year 2048, where there has been an uprising in South America by a rebel group known as the Promise Hand. The Promise Hand has overthrown the government and a private military company known as Mantel has been drafted in to sort it out. The player takes on the role of a guy called Shane Carpenter who is a Sergeant working for Mantel, on what is his first day in the war.

The main tool that the Mantel has in addition to all their tanks, bombs and guns is a bio-enhancing medication called Nectar. Nectar gives the troopers lots of different advantages. As the player progresses through the game they come to realise that there's more to Mantel and more to Nectar than initially meets the eye, and it allows them to explore their perception of the world as they first see it and to toy with it as they progress through the game.

What effect does Nectar have on gameplay?

When you drop into battle using Nectar, the first thing you notice is that it gives you four main benefits. It gives you Nectar Focus, which is an enhanced sniping aid that gives you that extra bit of aim steadiness to let you get that perfect headshot, it gives you Nectar Perception which highlights any enemies nearby in a bright orange glow and allows players to identify where they are. There's Nectar Foresight, so when a grenade lands nearby or someone's about to melee you, you get a ripple effect that emanates out from them giving you that split-second of warning you need to get out of the way, and finally there's the Nectar Melee Blast which is an overpowered melee attack that can send enemies flying up to 15 feet away.

The other aspect of Nectar is the fact that you dose up with it yourself. You can administer as much as you want but if you administer too much you'll overdose. When you overdose two major things happen. The first thing is you can't tell friend from foe, the Promise Hand and the Mantel Soldiers all look the same to you. The second thing is that control of your trigger finger is taken away from you, so whenever your aim passes over an enemy you automatically start to fire. So you get to this state where suddenly, in the middle of all your Mantel squadmates, you become this smart bomb, because you start shooting at your own team.

When you're playing as a Mantel solider you're always trying to avoid overdosing while using all the other benefits of Nectar, but when you're playing as a rebel you're always trying to overdose the troopers and exploit the weaknesses inherent to Nectar.

What kind of weapons will you be using throughout the game?

We've got a range of weapons, including variants on existing real-life weaponry, but I do feel the interesting thing about the weapons in Haze is the way that you use Nectar with them. So you can create a Nectar grenade by strapping a Nectar pack from a fallen Mantel trooper onto a grenade and throwing it at the enemy, which emits a cloud of Nectar gas that can overdose anyone in that area. You can also use a Nectar knife - when you create a Nectar grenade you also slather your knife in Nectar, and when you melee attack or throw that knife at an enemy trooper that will overdose them. Another thing you can do is you can overdose enemies by going up to them and smashing the Nectar pack on their back, or you can snipe it from a distance.

As a rebel there's other useful things you can do with weapons. You can steal enemy weapons, you can scavenge ammo from any fallen gun and recalibrate it, meaning you can use shotgun ammunition in your rifle and vice versa, and you can also lay mines by converting grenades and hiding them on the floor so soldiers don't see them as they run past.

What kind of multiplayer experience can we expect from Haze?

In addition to our four player co-operative mode that runs right throughout the single player campaign - it's drop in, drop out, so you can jump into someone else's game whenever you want - we are also offering 16 player online multiplayer with split screen support, meaning you can do two player split screen as part of a LAN or online multiplayer game. We're offering a wide range of multiplayer modes, including the standard deathmatch mode, and the main direction of the online game is the battle between the Promise Hand rebels and the Mantel troopers. It's important to stress that all the abilities that the troopers and rebels have in the single player are available in the multiplayer and you'll find plenty of interesting ways in which they interact online.

The other thing we have is a range of team assault modes that are like little stories in themselves - they're objective driven scenarios that tell a little bit of extra story about the campaign scenario.

There's been so many great FPS games coming out recently, what makes Haze stand out?

I think the unique feature Haze has is the asymmetric gameplay it has running through it - the Mantel troopers and Promise Hand rebels have very different abilities and they're available in all modes of the game.

The whole concept of the game started from Free Radical, who are famous for TimeSplitters which has a great multiplayer game. So when we started making Haze we were thinking about what we could do to make multiplayer more interesting. So we said "how about if the side you choose isn't because of the look of the character, but because of how you want to play the game?" So you can choose to be a Promise Hand rebel if you like the more guerrilla, improvisational style of gameplay, or you can choose to be a Mantel trooper if you just want to dose up on Nectar and go for the headshots and go for the melee attacks.

Then when you play the multiplayer game all those abilities interrelate. A good example of this is the Promise Hand's ability to play dead. Because Nectar presents a sanitised version of reality to the Mantel troopers, dead bodies seem to disappear to them. The rebels can use this to their advantage by playing dead so that they will appear to vanish to the Mantel Troopers, then can jump back up again and attack. All these abilities interlock in the multiplayer game, which gives you an enormous range of options before you even start considering the normal range of weapons and normal FPS gameplay that Haze already has. So I think it just adds a whole other layer to the gameplay that you won't find in any other game out there.

Haze is out on May 23rd. Be sure to check out the preview and more Haze news at eu.playstation.com.


PS3 Fanboy review: Haze
Haze initial reviews are not promising

PS3 version of Alone in the Dark getting a frame rate fix; not cancelled

You'd certainly be forgiven for believing that the release of the PS3 version of Alone in the Dark was looking a little unstable. There's been no real word on it for a while, despite the 360, Wii, PS2 and PC versions hitting store shelves next month. Thankfully, Eden Games have gone on record to say that a PS3 version is "not that far off." Claiming that they are having some frame rate issues, the game is still being fixed and tweaked in order to make it ready for public consumption.

The game will definitely be coming out this year, according to Eden Games' Nour Polloni. It's good to know Alone in the Dark hasn't been cancelled on the PS3 as many had feared. Being the cynics that we are, however, we can't help but think this is another one of those strategic delays, considering that the game was due out a week after arguably the biggest PS3 release this year: Metal Gear Solid 4. Just a thought.


Learn to play PixelJunk Eden at the PlayStation Blog

Street Fighter IV online mode, exclusive characters confirmed

It seems the home console versions of Street Fighter IV are going to be where it's at. Japan's Famitsu magazine squeezed the information out of the game's producer, Yoshinori Ono, in a recent interview. The console versions will allow you to play against friends via online modes as well as add in some console-exclusive characters. We aren't sure if this means "console specific" like Soul Calibur IV, but some of the exclusive characters have recently been confirmed as Dan and Fei Long. Oh, Dan. You are so very weird. There's also a list of five new characters up on Famitsu, but these aren't console-specific characters, we don't think.


Here’s another two new characters for Street Fighter IV
Re-balancing Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

Academy awards

Fancy becoming a real-life race driver? PlayStation and Nissan are offering you the chance with the GT Academy.

Drivers of the world, start your engines - the GT Academy has arrived. A pan-European competition, GT Academy sees PlayStation and Nissan unite the worlds of virtual and real-life racing to make the dreams of aspiring race drivers a reality. This ultimate competitive driving test will begin on June 2, 2008 when the GT Academy goes live within Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.

Driving ambition

The competition will be split into three stages. The first phase will take place online with a giant Gran Turismo 5 Prologuetournament on PLAYSTATION Network. This competition will run for seven weeks and to enter, players must register their PLAYSTATION Network sign in ID at http://www.gtacademy.eu/. The next time they play GT5 Prologue online they will be able to race in the GT Academy Time Trial where they will compete to be the fastest around the Eiger Nordwand track in a Nissan Fairlady 350Z.

The next stage is the National Finals, to be held in July 2008. The fastest 20 drivers in each country will be invited to a national final to compete head to head on Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. 

The final stage is only open to the three fastest drivers from the nationals, who will win a place at the GT Academy at Silverstone at the end of August. The virtual gives way to the tarmac of Silverstone, the home of British motor racing, as the finalists take part in a real-life driving competition on the track itself. Competitors will not only have to prove their driving skills in a Nissan GT-R but will also be tested for their mental and physical skills in a series of tests.

The two fastest drivers from Silverstone then have the chance to enter a four month training programme to earn their racing licenses and take part in a real life race in a fully race prepared Nissan 350Z at the 24 hour endurance event in Dubai in January 2009.

Speaking at Nurburgring 24H race, Kazunori Yamauchi, Head of Polyphony Digital producers of Gran Turismo said:  "This is a very exciting day for Gran Turismo. The Gran Turismo story started 10 years ago with the ambition to make a racing game that gives players the ultimate driving simulation experience. The GT Academy is the ultimate realisation of this ambition taking the Gran Turismo experience to the next level."

Stephane Cottin, Vice President, Marketing and Strategy, for Nissan in Europe continued: "GT Academy is a first for the motoring industry. Never before has a competition of this scale been undertaken to unite the worlds of virtual and real-life racing. GT Academy sets the challenge to see if gamers can recreate their performance behind the wheel of a real racing car and on their journey they will be amongst the first in Europe to drive the GT-R on track."

For full terms and conditions and more information about GT Academy visit http://www.gtacademy.eu/, and be sure to follow the action on GT TV and the PLAYSTATION Store.


Gran Turismo series reaches 50 million milestone

This is what 'next gen' Prince of Persia looks like

Another great reveal today besides that of Beyond Good & Evil 2 (which we mentioned earlier) is Prince of Persia. The trailer for this game looks exquisite, and we're really excited to see more. In this trailer, we see this iteration's prince fighting monsters while keeping his face concealed; we also get to watch his new ally Elika help out.

Thankfully, there were no odd cross promotions going on -- say if the prince took off the layers of cloth covering his face only to reveal that he was indeed ... Jake Gyllenhaal (who is set to star in the movie). That would be disturbing.


Prince of Persia speed art video reveals Elika as a character

Here's another two new characters for Street Fighter IV

All right, what have we got here? It looks like we're seeing more Street Fighter IV characters. The guy on the left, named Rufus, is morbidly obese and obviously training in the same dojo as Tekken 6's Bob. The fact that he is holding a tub of popcorn could mean one of either two things: he loves movies so much that after watching the new flick (and ogling over Kristin Kreuk) he plans on becoming a street fighter himself, or they just want to exude the fact that this guy is carrying a few extra pounds.

The other guy, Seth, seems to be a mysterious mix of the Silver Surfer and a Buddhist monk. Or so it seems due to that Yin Yang for an abdomen. Throw in his Hebrew name and then he's an even bigger enigma to figure out. Perhaps you'll just have to see more of these characters to understand who they are. You can catch some more pics over at Famitsu's website.


Re-balancing Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

A summer of sport on PlayStation

Try out this selection of games to complement a fantastic summer of sport

As summer approaches and the temperature starts to rise, it's the ideal time to dig out your shorts from the bottom of the wardrobe and settle down in front of some great sports games available from PlayStation.

Football

The European Championships in Austria and Switzerland kicks off this summer and if you're from one of the countries not lucky enough to make the final 16, you can go for glory by creating your own tournament on UEFA EURO 2008 for PLAYSTATION 3.

Or if you're attending the big event, be sure to pack your PSP; not only can you play UEFA EURO 2008 and psyche yourself up for the big matches, you can use Remote Play for PSP to access all the digital entertainment on your PS3 system's hard drive while you're kicking back in the hotel.

Tennis

The same thing happens every year: thousands of tennis fans turn out at Wimbledon, strawberries and cream in hand, and get rained on. Fortunately, it takes more than drizzle to stop play in SEGA Superstars Tennis on PS3; even a court invasion of zombies from House of the Dead is merely an excuse for target practice.

If you prefer Roddick over Sonic and are looking for realism, Virtua Tennis 3 is the definitive simulation of the sport. Boasting staggeringly realistic graphics, deep gameplay and fun mini-games, it's as good as being in the stands at centre court, and less likely to give you a sore neck.

Golf

In theory, golf is a great summer sport - a pleasant stroll along manicured fairways, the satisfaction of a perfectly straight drive. However, the reality for most of us is an afternoon spent hacking through long grass with a sand wedge looking for the ball. Tiger Woods doesn't have that problem, so why not stay home and play as him instead, on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for PS3.

If you fancy some fresh air, go for a walk and take Everybody's Golf 2 for PSP with you. Its cheerful courses and characters will make you smile, and beneath the sunshine and happiness lies a level of complexity that will have you revisiting courses deep into the winter. Also each shot produces an explosion of light and colour - not even Tiger can do that.

Beijing 2008

As the world's best athletes continue training for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, gamers are stretching their fingers in preparation for the official game. It will be the first Olympic title on PLAYSTATION 3 and boasts an impressive 38 events, each supporting online multiplayer.

So whether you're an Olympic athlete, a golf caddy or an armchair pundit, there are plenty of sports games to work up a sweat for this summer, and you don't even have to leave the house if you don't want to.

PlayStation Day video
World of PlayStation: Sport

PS3 Fanboy review: Haze

Developed by Free Radical, the ex-Rare employees responsible for the excellent Timesplitters series, Haze has been a long time coming. The game has suffered from multiple delays as well as exclusivity confusion over the last year. Haze promised to deliver an immersive story, balanced multiplayer and seamless online and offline co-op play. It was also backed up by some excellent live-action trailers.

Unfortunately, it becomes apparent whilst playing the game that, while the team at Free Radical may have reached for excellence, they have either fallen short or made some bad decisions with regards to the execution of many aspects of the title. Haze isn't a bad game and, despite some shortcomings, can be enjoyable and thought provoking. But is it as good as the hype suggested? Frankly, no. Read on to find out why.

Gallery: Haze

Haze was pegged as a story-based first-person shooter that would deliver a clever, satirical story that showed war from both sides. A live-action trailer gave would-be players a taste of what was to come and demonstrated the overall story of the game. As a child, Sergeant Shane Carpenter's parents were killed and so he commits himself to Mantel's private army. Armed with the performance enhancing drug Nectar, Shane was transformed into an elite soldier, until the day he got ambushed by Rebels and is "reborn."

A great premise, I'm sure you'll agree. Unfortunately, very little of this narrative makes it into the game itself. We hear almost nothing about Shane's life pre-Mantel and we care very little for him as a result. The moment Shane changes sides is also very different than is advertised in the trailer. In fact, Haze marketing is permeated with the image of a smashed Mantel helmet. An excellent piece of symbolism that's used in the trailer as a metaphor for the moment of Shane's "rebirth". Unfortunately, that too is missing from the game.


The story continues to suffer throughout as brilliant premises make way for lackluster or cop-out implementation and resolution. There's a big reveal half way through the game which fails to leave much of an impression for several reasons. The biggest of which is that, due to the lack of narration or exposition scenes, a sense of scale and geography is lost. The game feels like it takes place within a bubble with the rest of the world oblivious to what's going on. With some nice cutscenes or some clever narrative implementation the story could have had a far greater impact.

Moving on to gameplay, Free Radical Design know what they're doing when it comes to first-person shooters. The Timesplitters series has shown us that. As a result Haze controls nicely and the on-foot sections are sufficiently enjoyable. Level design varies in quality throughout and it seems to improve as the game goes on. Early sections of the game are middling, with later parts (the bridge and the hotel, in particular) ramping up the adrenaline and feeling much more fun.


There are a few vehicle sections in the game which are sadly lacking. Poor driving mechanics coupled with dull environments and confusing level design leave you looking forward to the next on-foot section. Thankfully, there are only a handful of these sections scattered throughout the game. Later you'll come across a couple of short sections involving shooting a load of Mantel troopers from a helicopter with a minigun. These sections are far more fun and, in my opinion, should have been longer and more numerous.

Graphically, Haze looks pretty good with a distinct lack of jaggies. Character models (particularly Mantel soldiers) and animations are great. Environments range from "pretty drab" to "quite decent", with the driving sections particularly dull and gray/brown. Unfortunately, there are graphical glitches that pop up later in the game. These are most apparent while sniping, when you will see strobing textures. In no way is this a deal breaker, though.


The hook of the game is obviously the Nectar and the Rebel skills. Giving you two sets of abilities makes it feel a bit like two different games. As a Mantel soldier you'll be using Nectar a lot. Mostly because there's no reason not to. The same can not be said for the Rebel skills, however. Nectar grenades are handy, as is dodging, but most others aren't worth the hassle. The problem is that against AI, they're pretty useless -- particularly playing dead.

Which brings me to my main gameplay qualm. Mantel troopers, who were super tough and powerful when you are on their side, become really easy to kill once you're a Rebel. Also, enemies will rarely use their skills against your team. Mantel soldiers visibly top up on Nectar, but it doesn't seem to make them much tougher and Rebels very rarely use nectar grenades or play dead. No matter which side you're on, the enemies feel the same -- they just look different.

The skills really come into their own during the multiplayer modes, however. Abilities that weren't very useful against AI suddenly become quite potent against human players. The multiplayer (the gem in the Timesplitters series' crown) is good fun and well implemented in Haze. The assault multiplayer mode, in particular, is great fun and allows you to play through small story missions from either side of the conflict. These missions are separate from those in the single player game, but tie into the main storyline. Sadly, there aren't quite as many maps as we'd like. There's potential for some good DLC there.


Speaking of multiplayer, I really wanted to get some co-op play in with a buddy or two before writing this review. One of the game's main selling points was its four-player online co-op, so it seemed like an important aspect to address. Unforunately, there are some crippling problems with the online system which meant that all attempts made at co-op play with people I knew failed dismally. When accepting friend requests from those on my PSN list an error message asked me to install the latest patch to continue. Naturally, there is no such patch. Yet.

It seems that the online Haze community is split into two groups arbitrarily. A cyberspace divide separates them, meaning they can't interact within the game or see the same server lists for online matches. Neither FRD nor Ubisoft has addressed this problem yet, but with an official tournament getting underway soon, we hope it gets sorted quickly. The fact that one of the game's main features is gimped is unforgivable. Co-op with random people , however, was fun and smooth, allowing for easy voice communication. We suspect it's even more fun with people you know -- if you can connect to each other, that is.

Overall, each aspect of Haze can be summed up the same way. "Solid, but not groundbreaking." There's plenty of room for improvement here. Bluntly, Free Radical should stick to what they do best: wacky, arcade first-person shooters with plenty of unlockables and polished multiplayer modes. Bring on Timesplitters 4.

PS3 Fanboy score: 6.5


PS3 Fanboy hands-on: Super Stardust HD Versus mode
Haze initial reviews are not promising

Army of Two map pack hitting the PSN Store worlwide this week

Army of Two fans who have played the game to death have something to look forward to this week. A map pack will be made available on the US and EU PlayStation Stores this Thursday. The pack will contain two new co-op maps as well as an "enhanced" versus map. The best thing about it? It's completely free. As much as we appreciate that, we're still waiting for the patch which will finally allow us to play with our buddies across the pond.

The Veteran Map Pack will allow players to venture into a subway station in Kiev as well as returning to SSC headquarters in Miami. Not only that, but it will include "destructible objects that were not available in the retail version." We've never turned down more stuff to blow up, that's for sure.

[Via Press Release]


Policenauts storms Japanese PS Store
European PSN Store PlayStation Day 2008 update

Ramos claims Interactive World Cup crown

The coveted virtual football title is heading to Spain after a spectacular final in Berlin.

After a day of intense action in front of a 10,500 strong crowd inside Berlin's Sony Centre, Alfonso Ramos of Sama de Langreo, Spain, became the FIFA Interactive World Player of 2008 and scored US$20,000 in the process.

He beat previous tournament winner, Chris Bullard of England, in the group stages and recovered from defeat against one of the favourites, Brazilian Andre Buffo, to power his way into the semi-finals. From there, his class shone through and he took the prize with a stylish 3-1 victory against Michael Ribeiro of the USA in the final.

Chris Bullard, a previous FIFA Interactive World Cup winner, believes Ramos deserved his victory. "Alfonso thoroughly deserved the title as he was the best among us - and not just today but also over the past three months," he said.

Former Ghana international and the first African to play in Germany's Bundesliga, Anthony Baffoe, co-hosted the event and was impressed by the overall standard. "There was all-out effort, just as in real football," he said. "Apart from quick fingers, you need tactical nous and a footballer's big heart."

The FIFA Interactive World Cup is the world's official FIFA football gaming tournament, inviting players to qualify by playing FIFA 08 on PLAYSTATION 3, either at events in cities throughout the world, or online.

There was more to the final than the tournament itself; attendees could also try out the latest games, watch performances from German hip-hop artist Das Bo and football freestyler John Farnworth, play table football and meet real life players.

Wherever the 2009 final is held, you can be sure that Ramos will be there to defend his title, and that this year's other participants will be just as eager to take it from him.

World of PlayStation: Sport

White Knight Chronicles magazine screenshot bonanza

It's been a long time since we've seen or heard anything regarding Level 5's upcoming RPG, White Knight Chronicles (the "chronicles" moniker seems popular for this generation of RPG's, really). However, Jeremiah at PS3 Forums slapped up a ton of scans from magazines in pretty excellent resolutions. Our grammar has taken a vacation because our minds are twisted in horrid ways from thinking about this game.

A lot of the scans seems old, many of the pictures we've probably posted before, but just in case these are updated screens (we think the above image is showing off the improved graphics, but aren't sure) or a new page here or there, we're bringing them to your attention. Let's hope this game pops up at E3 or TGS later this year.


Valkyria Chronicles video interview briefs you on plot, characters
Sony trademarks Qore, an “interactive magazine”

Sony unveils the 'Media and Events' Home venue

Click for high resolution
Home beta users were recently invited to try out a new Home venue. This "Media and Events" space is currently a recreation of the PlayStation Day event that took place in London a couple of weeks ago. In the future Sony plans on using the space to host "everything from new game unveilings to sports events to fashion shows." The PlayStation Day decoration of the Media and Events area included various elements from the real-world event, such as artwork and photographs from the show.

The new area includes jumbo screens on which the keynote speech was broadcast for the beta users to see. There was also a "a video stream of all the action from the real-world PlayStation Day experience." Check out our gallery below for a few screenshots and expect a video to appear online before too long. Sony has said that "following the test event's success Home will now start scheduling more elaborate and exciting productions for the Space." These will not only be available to first party developers, but to third party companies too.

This new part of Home looks like it'll be an excellent way to let gamers experience all of the trade shows that go on throughout the year. Not only that, but we're looking forward to seeing exclusive announcements being made from within Home. Once it's out, that is.

[Via Press Release]

Gallery: Home 'Virtual Events' Space

Fill your tanks with even more Resistance shots

Get your golf on

With Everybody's Golf 2 swinging onto PSP for a welcome second round, take a look at how the course is shaping up.

Everybody's Golf is back on PSP and, as always, the sun is shining, the course is clear and the players are smiling, while beneath the cute exterior a sublimely robust golfing experience awaits. The only thing spoilt on this walk is you - with the sheer amount of choice available.

Developer Clap Hanz has packed even more into the game. Everybody's Golf 2 on PSP now boasts 16 player online head-to-head matches and tournaments, alongside world ranking leaderboards, and of course there are the expected new courses, characters and items.

Still as accessible as ever, Everybody's Golf achieves something rare in a sports game, not only keeping golf fans engaged for countless rounds but offering immense enjoyment for non-golfers. It really is for everybody.

Customisation is still a big part of the game's appeal. By unlocking items and styles you're able to tweak your golfer's look, kitting them out with equipment both helpful and decorative, from better balls to snazzy outfits.

With challenges and mini-games to keep you amused in single player and the ability to take on players across the world in Infrastructure Mode, Everybody's Golf 2 on PSP is one not to miss this summer.

World of PlayStation: Sport
PlayStation Day: PLAYSTATION Network round-up

Resident Evil 5 to have pop-in co-op, flashbacks, more

UK magazine Xbox World 360 (we are not dyslexic) and GamesRadar (link seems to lead nowhere now, but just in case we've got it for you) revealed quite a few juicy bits about Resident Evil 5. Do you remember the new female character seen in Famitsu scans? She's guided by AI when playing solo, but like in Army of Two, if you're online, anyone can jump in at any time and play some co-op with you.

Also revealed to return is the "Mercenaries" mini-game from Resident Evil 4. A few more features/tweaks were mentioned as well: still no strafing, but a cover system has been implemented so you can press against walls and/or shoot around corners. You can now also dodge and duck using the right analog stick.

Stop now if you don't want to read any spoilers at all about the game. We don't want to write them, but we feel obligated to. Consider a small part of us dying as we type these. The game takes place in a small African country near a line of active volcanoes stretched across Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Volcanic activity is what unleashes the virus upon the masses. Classic characters abound -- Sherry Birkin and Albert Wesker have been confirmed -- with playable flashbacks to fill in some story bits otherwise untold.

Look for the game in 2009, the preview concludes. We said it would be out in fiscal year '08, which goes into March of '09. So, look for the game in March. Then delayed to September. Just kidding!

[via 1UP]



Resident Evil 5 planned for release this fiscal year
Perhaps a new Resident Evil 5 trailer soon, maybe

PSN hits one million accounts in Japan

Today's not just Memorial Day here for us Americans. In Japan, they've got a celebration of their own. SCEJ is partying to the news that the PSN over yonder has just broken over one million unique accounts -- that's roughly half the user base in Japan. 400,000 users are on every month.

Commemorating this milestone, SCEJ is giving away 1,000 network promotional codes worth 1,000 each. If you've got a Japanese account, it looks like you can sign-up for a chance to win up until June 9. Give it a shot.

[Via GameWatch]


Gran Turismo series reaches 50 million milestone

A brief history of Time

Since 1999, the Time Crisis series has been providing some of the most exciting arcade action around. Want to know how it all began? Read on to find out more...

Maybe you're a huge fan of the Time Crisis series. Maybe you've just been playing the most recent game and wondering what the 4 at the end of the title means. Either way, it can't hurt to brush up on the history of one of the most successful light gun series of all time.

Time Crisis (1995)

Released into arcades in 1995, Time Crisis was unlike any light gun shooter game that came before it, largely thanks to its use of a brand new innovation in light gun games: the foot pedal. With the pedal released, the player took cover to conserve hit points whilst reloading their gun. Pressing down on the pedal again let you pop out of cover and unleash a volley of hot lead at anyone foolish enough to put on a ski mask and come running in your direction.

The game also created an atmosphere of frantic action thanks to the Time Crisis of the title - a countdown timer, recharged by clearing an area of enemies - that was constantly within a few seconds of zero and instant Game Over. You had to take risks, shoot enemies quickly and hide only when necessary if you wanted to survive, giving the game a tense, action-packed atmosphere never before seen in arcades.

The game was later ported to the PS one, with the Guncon controller. As well as the arcade mode, it featured an additional multi-branched storyline exclusive to the PS one version of the game.

Time Crisis II (1998)

Hitting the arcades in 1998, Time Crisis II boosted the time Crisis action with a range of new gameplay aspects. First and foremost was the Crisis Flash - a split second flash of light that warned you of incoming bullet-based death. Fail to get to cover after spotting a Crisis Flash and you would lose a life, only this time you couldn't say you weren't warned. Each scene also had a 40-second time limit, but unlike the original Time Crisis the timer only ran down in battle, not during cutscenes, and was reset with greater regularity.

Another innovation to the series that was introduced in Time Crisis II was the two-player co-operative mode that allowed two people to play simultaneously, allowing you and a friend to cover each other and introducing a tactical element to the game. Time Crisis II was also the first TC game to be ported to PlayStation 2, which included unlockable weapons, Crisis Missions, a clay pigeon mini-game called Shoot Away 2 and a remake of the arcade game Quick and Crash.

Crisis Zone (1999)

Released to arcades in 1999 and to PS2 in 2004, Crisis Zone offered up another piping hot slice of Time Crisis shooting action, this time from the perspective of an anti-terrorist trooper aiming to take down an organisation known as the U.R.D.A. Crisis Zone was notable for letting players choose to play any of the game's three initial levels in any order before heading to the final boss battle in mission four.

Time Crisis: Project Titan (2001)

The first Time Crisis game to be released exclusively for PS one, Project Titan followed the series' formula with the foot pedal cover system, Crisis Flash warnings and constantly decreasing time limit.

All new to Project Titan however, was the ability to move to multiple fixed locations, which were activated by shooting yellow arrows while the player was hiding. This gave players the freedom to choose their own path throughout the levels and is something that has been widely used by other shooters ever since.

Time Crisis 3 (2002)

All this Time Crisising was all well and good, but by the third instalment, people were starting to call out for more weapons with which to off their jumpsuited foes. Namco listened and Time Crisis 3 introduced a new weapons system that allowed the player to switch between the standard issue handgun, a fully automatic machine gun that could hold 200 rounds, a shotgun with 50 rounds for close quarters fighting, and a 5-round grenade launcher with splash damage. The game also refined the Crisis Flash system by making incoming dangers brighter and easier to spot in the heat of battle.

Time Crisis 3 was later released for PlayStation 2, together with a seperate story featuring side character Alicia Winston as a playable character. Unlike the other games in the series however, the PS2 version of Time Crisis 3 featured plot elements, features, and weapons not found in the arcade version.

Time Crisis 4 (2006)

The latest and most technologically advanced of all the Time Crisis games, Time Crisis 4 adds the multi-screen/multi-hiding system, introduced in Time Crisis: Project Titan, but places players on the defensive, having to shoot arrows, or move the G-con controller to switch screens and hold off advancing hordes of enemies.

The game was released for PLAYSTATION 3 bundled with the G-con 3, and features an all-new first-person mode known as Complete Mission Mode. The G-con 3 comes equipped with two analogue sticks, and for the first time in a Time Crisis game you can now step off the rails and move around at your leisure using the sticks to move, while retaining the aiming system from the Arcade Mode. Playing as Captain William Rush, a non-playable character from the main story, the Complete Mission Mode contains 15 levels and fills in some of the backstory to the most thrilling and involving Time Crisis yet.

Time Crisis 4 is out now on PLAYSTATION 3. Check out a full preview and more at eu.playstation.com.

Solid to the core
Sony taking action against unlicensed replica gun

Here's a look at three new Soulcalibur IV femme fatales

Perhaps you've seen Shura already, but have you met Ashlotte? You probably haven't witnessed Setsuka's new look for Soulcalibur IV either. If you haven't seen any of these three lovely ladies from the upcoming Soulcalibur IV then make sure you watch this slide show gallery to check them out.

Setsuka is a returning character who first made an appearance in Soulcalibur III. Ashlotte, on the other hand, is another one of those characters manifested from SC IV's anime collaborations. Ashlotte wields a giant halberd-like weapon and dresses like a gothic doll.

While all these new anime-inspired characters are pretty interesting, we did notice one odd thing. Have you noticed that they're all female? No new male designs in the works here guys? Anyway, that's nothing to complain about ... especially after seeing Voldo's bouncy crotch physics in today's earlier vid. Female characters are just fine thanks.


Prince of Persia speed art video reveals Elika as a character
GameTrailer’s Metal Gear Retrospective Part 2: Metal Gear Solid

Prince of Persia speed art video reveals Elika as a character

While most of the video is dramatic music as an artist at Ubisoft does a speed drawing on the computer of the newly-revealed female companion to the ... "prince" ... in the upcoming Prince of Persia title, there's still a little bit of information about this mysterious Elika. She'll be integral to the plot, naturally, since she's supposed to give players and the main character someone to connect with and someone to grow attached to. That's mostly PR speak for "she's going to be around, she'll be cool, and sparks may or may not fly". Either way, it's just cool to see the drawing take form in a time-lapsed fashion.


Here’s a look at three new Soulcalibur IV femme fatales

"It's the feeling of hostility"

One of the PLAYSTATION 3 system's most anticipated games is emerging from its cocoon to an increasing number of eager first person shooter fans. Find out why Killzone 2 will be every bit worth the wait...

The atmosphere is stifling... a furnace of anger given life on a planet of pure aggression. The intense ground zero heat of chaos is a total contrast to the frigidly cold temperatures miles above the ground before the Armored Personnel Carrier's flight comes to an abrupt end in the brown-grey matter of Helghan soil, firing dirt, water and men into the combat zone.

Shells strike from Helghast artillery, instantly crippling another APC full of troops. Those who aren't fried survive long enough to fly straight into a building, showering everyone below in masonry, burnt metal and charred remains. Explosions erupt from rockets and grenades. Swarms of bullets bathe in crimson. A medic performs valiant yet futile CPR on a fallen comrade while another burns to death, his final screams nearly drowned by the mocking cackle of the blaze that consumes him. Orders are barked through a cacophony of noise... and the theatre of war begins its life-ending recital.

This is merely the opening of the first person shooter epic that is Killzone 2. Prepare for something special...

Highway to the danger zone

The reaction to Guerrilla Games' hugely anticipated sequel has been well documented. Taking advantage of the PLAYSTATION 3 system's powerful hardware, Killzone 2 is already one of the most impressively beautiful titles to grace the videogames medium, even at this early stage - and it looks as good as ever, with plenty of time for it to get even better.

Simply put, the level of detail is stunning. The world of Helghan crackles around you with fierce life, plunging you into an environment that's as mesmerising as it is intimidating. The bleak weather conditions give the visuals a sombre tone, but that refuses to hide the large number of touches that become evident after mere seconds. Highly convincing lighting and shadow effects, smooth animation (the reload sequences alone are a thing of beauty) and meticulous texture quality drag you into Killzone 2's blistering reality - and it's all in aid of immersing you within a place of bubbling enmity.

"The single most important emotion the player needs to have is that he never feels safe," says Hermen Hulst, Managing Director of Guerrilla. "The enemies know [their environment] much better than you do and you're typically at a disadvantage."

Senior Producer Steven Ter Heide explains further: "It's the feeling of hostility, the feeling that you're on an alien planet and you're not wanted there. Even the planet itself seems to be conspiring against you, not just the enemies. The other thing is the sheer intensity, it's something people picked up on in the original 2005 trailer, and what they saw there was just the sheer intensity of everything going off around you, and that's something we really want to convey in Killzone 2."

It's not just the visuals that impress so far. Playing through its early levels, it soon becomes clear that Guerrilla has truly studied how other FPS' work and how to push the genre further when merging graphic fidelity, physics and gameplay.

Hel is coming with me

The brutal antagonists of the title, the Helghast, make full use of their environment during their running battles with you. Taking cover from your bullets is one thing, but their steady tactical movement forward by leaping over crates and other destructible obstacles is unnerving, nicely offset by the way they will occasionally slump and fall over those same objects when you gun them down - something that's especially satisfying when one catches you off guard only for his gun to jam at the killing stroke, leaving you to exact instant retribution.

It's this conscientious sense of gunplay that Guerrilla has paid particular attention to, as Hulst declares that "every bullet you fire has to do something". To that aim, destructibility plays a big part in Killzone 2, not just in the sense of your environment around you being laid to waste, but also in the way the Helghast take their lumps.

"We've implemented a hit response system," explains Hulst. "That means every shot you fire at the enemy triggers a different response because it's a mixture of motion captured animations with physics impulses, so depending on the range, the type of weapon and where you hit them, you get a different animation."

"We're providing a new experience"

Squad based mechanics are included for the Allied side as well as the Helghast, as you'll be accompanied by teammates who will communicate and fight alongside you, needing healing at times if they go down under a hail of gunfire. They effectively use cover and so can you, with the ability to use a look/peek system which pins you against pillars and posts with the press of button and then allows you to blind fire or look around before taking a more considered shot. And those with keen hearing will appreciate the subtle sound made by your gun when the clip is nearly empty, giving you a handy aural warning to reload without needing to look at your ammo counter.

Touches like this clearly aim to immerse you into the game, as well as the inclusion of motion controls - one such example has you rotating the Wireless Controller to reflect your arms turning a valve on the screen. "Motion control is something that PLAYSTATION 3 allows us to do, and we'll be taking advantage of that," says Hulst. "We needed to come up with something really intuitive, something that will actually help the game and create some variety. So rather than use it as a gimmick or something that feels tacked on we want to integrate it within the gameplay, and with the game being in first person, motion controls allow us to use a broader range of movements than just firing a weapon - you're doing other things as well to keep the experience fresh."

"We've implemented a lot of motion controlled activities," expounds Ter Heide. "So there's a lot more to come."

There's definitely a feeling that Guerrilla is looking to cover all bases and so far Killzone 2 is sitting very pretty indeed. "We're providing a new [cinematic] experience," says Ter Heide - and from what's on show so far it's difficult to disagree with him.  

Keep checking eu.playstation.com for more on this exciting title, including information on its multiplayer modes and other surprises in store.

Microsoft’s Greenberg slams Sony’s failed promises
PS3 Fanboy hands-on: Super Stardust HD Versus mode

Penny Arcade tells us what to think about Bioshock PS3

Attention PS3 Fanboy!

And so begins Penny Arcade's latest strip, which extols the merits of Bioshock. While many bashed the game as "just another FPS" when it failed to release on PS3 last year, the recently announced port should be met with some excitement and anticipation ... just not too much, please. Tycho explains properly: "at the very least, Playstation 3 stalwarts can stop hating it for no good Goddamned reason."

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]


Torque Engine main reason for Penny Arcade’s absence on PSN
PS Nation Podcast 062 - Judges Day

Learn to play PixelJunk Eden at the PlayStation Blog

No doubt you've seen the incredibly pretty screenshots of PixelJunk Eden -- and they do look gorgeous -- but how exactly does one play the game? In the latest PlayStation Blog post, Jeff Rubenstein (that bloke gets everywhere these days) has a natter with two of the producers for the game who guide him through a couple of levels. Together they prove that PixelJunk Eden isn't just a pretty face, the gameplay looks quite excellent too.

The game is due out this Summer and this video has us hyped for it. The PixelJunk series looks to get better and better as the games progress. Is it too early to be excited about finding out what PixelJunk Dungeon will be like?


PlayStation Day: PLAYSTATION Network round-up

Demo(n) download

Try out your minion control skills for free with the Overlord: Raising Hell demo from PLAYSTATION Store.

Command a horde of demonic minions as you assert your authority over the land and define what true evil is. A darkly humorous parody of classic fantasy literature, Overlord: Raising Hell pits you and your loyal minions against angry dwarves, wimpy elves, messed up zombies, and so-called heroes.

Raised from the grave by your impish retainers, you discover that your years of slumber have allowed the land, which you once oppressed with an iron fist, to fall into ruin. With peasants no longer fearing to speak your name and everyone living in happy harmony, there is only one course of action available... to take back what's rightfully yours and look into your jet-black heart to find out whether you're evil or really evil.

Answer the call of evil and download your free Overlord: Raising Hell demo from PLAYSTATION Store (PS3).

European PSN Store PlayStation Day 2008 update
PlayStation Day video

PS Nation Podcast 062 - Judges Day

This week's episode is being published a bit early, at the request of our special guest, Jeff Rubenstein from the PlayStation.blog. Find out about his job as Mascot of PlayStation, and find out what he thinks about Sony's upcoming line-up, including Metal Gear Solid 4. Afterwards, we talk about Haze, Singstar and Andrew gives a preview of Alone in the Dark.

[iTunes] Subscribe to the PS Nation Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3)
[RSS] Add the PS Nation Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly

New episodes will be available for subscribers every Saturday. Episodes will be available to stream and download on PS3 Fanboy every Monday at 12:00AM. Visit the VGEvo.com forums to chat with other podcast fans.

Contact:
Email us at Podcast@PSNation.org

Voicemail line is: 920-626-4464
Or if you have Skype, use wdt-torgo

News:
Bioshock on PS3 finally confirmed
Free God of War track for Guitar Hero III
Killzone 2 delay explained
Madden NFL 09 PSP pack announced



Resistance 2 playable at PlayStation Day
PlayStation Day video

Meet Kojima in London on June 2nd

The HMV London store at 150 Oxford Street will feature video game celebrity Hideo Kojima on June 2nd. He'll be available to sign "pre-release sleeves" for the upcoming PS3-exclusive Guns of the Patirots, and perhaps approved body parts. Yoji Shinkawa, lead artist of the series, will also be present for the signing.

You'll have to arrive early, as only 300 sleeves will be available for signing on the day of the event. The pre-order sleeves will be up for grabs at 9AM and will be issued on a first-come first-serve basis for those that place a 5 deposit.



MGS4 may be end of Snake, but not the end of series
Watch Kojima play the first ten minutes of Metal Gear Solid 4

PlayStation Day: MotorStorm Pacific Rift first look

Get set for some more brutal off-road racing as the MotorStorm festival heads to an island paradise with MotorStorm Pacific Rift on PLAYSTATION 3.

Currently the best-selling game on PLAYSTATION 3 with over 3 million copies sold, MotorStorm has redefined the racing genre with its combination of brutal off-road racing, different vehicle classes and a pounding soundtrack to drive the action along.

Now the action is set to get even more intense as the festival ups sticks and moves to the temperate climes of the Pacific Rim for the sequel, MotorStorm Pacific Rift on PLAYSTATION 3.

Island in the sun

Judging by the early version of the game on display at PlayStation Day, the new setting of an island paradise in the Pacific Ocean lends itself extremely well to the MotorStorm playing style. The overgrown jungle landscape is just as tough an adversary as the other racers, throwing barbed vegetation, free flowing rivers, winding mountain roads and sudden precipices at all who dare strap on a helmet and get behind the wheel of a vehicle. It's not just a pretty backdrop either - the environment reacts to your vehicle in exactly the way you would expect it to in real life. Large vehicles are able to push their way through thick vegetation, crushing trees and snapping branches as they go, while smaller cars and bikes will have to find another path, or follow the bigger boys, waiting for the opportune moment to overtake. It's brutal, dangerous, relentless and unpredictable, just as you would expect from a MotorStorm game, and you'll need to use your brain as much as the accelerator if you want to survive to reach the finish line.

Luckily you have a new tool in your motoring arsenal to help you overcome the challenges of the island - the monster truck. Monster by name, and monster most definitely by nature, the monster truck can crush smaller rivals, plough through vegetation and climb steep ledges, but be careful on the corners as a high centre of gravity make it extremely easy to tip over if you drive carelessly.

Speed racer

Speaking at PlayStation Day, Paul Hollywood, Creative Director of Evolution Studios, confirmed that MotorStorm 2 will contain 16 tracks - twice as many as the original MotorStorm - and that up to 20 players will be able to race each other online in the brutal, anything-goes races that MotorStorm is famous for. Hollywood also confirmed that, after listening to community feedback, MotorStorm 2 will feature four-player split-screen multiplayer, making it the perfect game to play with the family at the weekend, or with friends after a night out.

The game is also set to include ultra-aggressive Artificial Intelligence, new attack manoeuvres and many more dangerous and unpredictable events, making this the most challenging MotorStorm experience yet.

First impressions are that Evolution Studios have managed to improve on the already impressive original: the visuals look crisper and more realistic, the physics are tweaked to perfection and the whole experience feels as you would expect it to from a talented team who now have a great deal of experience in developing for PLAYSTATION 3 under their belts.

The addition of new multiplayer modes, the new monster trucks and the wealth of new tracks mean that this is one game that deserves to be a storming success when it's released later this year.

Twenty-nine stunning MotorStorm Pacific Rift images

Resident Evil 5 planned for release this fiscal year

Capcom has unleashed their infinitely exciting financial report upon the world and it holds a few pieces of neat news. We already expected the new Bionic Commando and MotoGP to come out in 2008, but we didn't expect to get an estimable release date for Resident Evil 5 until next year. However, it's listed as a fiscal year 2008 release -- which extends to the end of March, 2009. Our vote is that the game won't be out this holiday season. It will, however, come out in March. Just our guess. What do you guys think?


Perhaps a new Resident Evil 5 trailer soon, maybe

LEGO Batman gets chilling new villain

Click for high-resolution image.

It's great to see that this glacier-loving scientist is joining the cast for LEGO Batman. This miniature sized version of Mr. Freeze more than makes up for the horrendous rendition that a certain California governor had done once before. That was really awful. Anyway, once you've shaken off the disturbing, chilling images of Arnold then be sure to check out our gallery below for more shots of LEGO Freeze.

Gallery: LEGO Batman: The Videogame

Fill your tanks with even more Resistance shots

PlayStation Day: PLAYSTATION Network round-up

With PLAYSTATION Store (PS3) Store in full flow, there's a nice assortment of titles due for your enjoyment. How about enjoying a small selection to whet your appetite in preparation of what's to come?

Super Stardust HD - Team mode

Anyone who's played the immensely addictive Super Stardust HD will know that a sprinkling isn't quite enough to satisfy the arcade shoot 'em up craving it inspires - which is why the Team mode expansion pack is on its way to give you a fresh blast of Stardust goodness. To kick things off, the soundtrack is now rearranged to give you its orchestral flavours in true Dolby 5.1 for that big Hollywood blockbuster atmosphere. For those who like to customise their crafts, a ship editor lets you design your own space vessel.

The jewel in Team mode's crown comes from the new array of multiplayer modes to get your friends to join in, for both competitive and co-op action. Versus Match supports up to four players with split screen functionality, allowing you to compete in a specially designed set of stages across four modes: Deathmatch, King of the Hill, Grab 'n' Run and Last Man Standing. The split screen co-op feature for two players shares the score between partners and rewarding tactical co-operation by boosting weapons when you're in close proximity to your partners.

PixelJunk Eden

There's something wonderfully enchanting about PixelJunk Eden that captures the imagination from the very first glimpse, eliciting a smile or at the very least, a dash of curiosity. Maybe it's the way the distinctive 2D visuals are shaded, with the 1080p resolution giving them a rather mesmerising glow... a bit like a lava lamp. Or maybe it's the way the game naturally expands as you get better at it, not only opening up new areas but organically changing the title screen as well which allows access to new levels. Or perhaps it's a combination of all these things rolled up into a quirky ball of charm that suits the pick up and play addiction of previous PixelJunk titles, Monsters and Racers. 

Regardless of the reason one thing is clear at this early stage - PixelJunk Eden is shaping up to be something refreshingly different. Q-Games' title takes the platform genre and places it within a vibrant garden where your tiny gardener is given the task of collecting out-of-reach treasures. The only way of obtaining these prized possessions is to smash into some of the roaming enemies and release pollen into the alien plants which grow - allowing you to gain access to higher areas thanks to your trusty bungee grapple and rope.

Compelling and fun, PixelJunk Eden looks to continue the fine form of Q-Games' unusual and successful PixelJunk games. Expect more on this little patch of Eden soon.

Elefunk

Elephants, engineering and ingenuity - these are the three things that make up fiendish puzzle game, Elefunk. The concept calls upon on a keen eye for construction as your task is to guide friendly elephants through a landscape of perils. With your mammalian friend stuck on one side of the screen, you have to build bridges and support structures to help get it to the other side. Your materials come in a variety of shapes, so good judgement is required to succeed as ill-placed frames can lead to the untimely demise of your poor elephant (who returns for each try with numerous bandages and sticking plasters from its fall, the poor thing).

Making things even more hazardous are other animals trying to put you in harm's way and making the task at hand an increasing challenge - something that will take an elephantine effort to overcome. With a variety of modes, including multiplayer options and online leaderboards, Elefunk should be on the radar of anyone looking to get a mammoth dose of fun on PLAYSTATION Network.

PS3 Fanboy hands-on: Super Stardust HD Versus mode
PlayStation Day video

See Marshall Lee from the upcoming Tekken movie

Yeah. They're making a Tekken movie. The popular PlayStation fighting game gets the silver screen treatment, just like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat before it. Love them or hate them, but video game movies are here to stay.

Cung Le plays "Marshall Law" from the franchise, and he can be seen in costume in this newly released pic (available on his MySpace page). Looks like he's going to need to grow a mustache if he wants to complete the role. But hey, at least the pants look pretty spot on.

For more details on the upcoming Tekken film, which takes place near the Tekken 6 timeline, visit SDTekken.com.

[Via Joystiq]


Blu-ray movie releases for the week of May 18

Fan makes his own Gunmetal PS3

Why bother with Konami's ridiculously overpriced Metal Gear-themed Gunmetal PS3 when you can simply make one? That's the mentality PlayStation forum user dieselstation had when he did a very careful paint job on his PS3. If he has the 80GB model, he already has a system far superior to Konami's offering. Heck, it would be able to play the Metal Gear Solid games from the PS2 era. Good job, dieselstation!

Check out more pictures here.


MGS4 may be end of Snake, but not the end of series

Unreal Tournament 3 competition

Want to win some exciting Unreal Tournament 3 goodies? Here's your chance in our exclusive competition.

First Person Shooter extravaganza Unreal Tournament 3 on PLAYSTATION 3 is currently blowing players away with its superb batch of High Definition visuals, blistering sound, extravagant weapons and hard-hitting deathmatch driven gameplay - and now it's your turn to join in on the incendiary action in a slightly different way.

In this competition, eu.playstation.com is offering you the chance to win some fantastic UT3 prizes, including copies of the game, t-shirts, and merchandise signed by the development team behind UT3 itself, Epic Games.

First prize will be an Unreal Tournament 3 acrylic artwork print signed by the development team, a PLAYSTATION 3 copy of Unreal Tournament 3, and an Unreal Tournament 3 t-shirt. The next nine entries drawn will each receive a PLAYSTATION 3 copy of Unreal Tournament 3 and an Unreal Tournament 3 t-shirt.

How to enter

Simply head over to our competition page and follow the instructions on screen to guess where the hidden Spidermine trap is on the given picture. Once you've made a decision and clicked on the location you think the Spidermine trap is, enter your details on the supplied form. All entries must be in by the end of Sunday 1 June, 2008 (GMT).

Unreal Tournament 3: Spot The Spidermine Promotion - Terms and Conditions

The Promotion is open to residents of Austria,Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom aged 18 or over except employees of Sony Computer Entertainment companies, their families, agents or anyone professionally connected with the Promotion.The Promotion is limited to one entry per person.  No entrant may win more than one prize.  No applications from agents, third parties, organised groups or applications automatically generated by computer will be accepted.  No incomplete, illegible or corrupted entries will be accepted.  No entries not in accordance with the entry instructions will be accepted. Entrants must visit http://competition.software.eu.playstation.com/unreal by entering their date of birth, follow the instructions on screen and, when prompted, insert their first and last name, country or residence and email address into the online form provided. Entry must be made using an official entry form on that website.Closing date for receipt of entries is 23.59 GMT on 1 June 2008.Responsibility is not accepted for entries lost, damaged or delayed as a result of any network, computer hardware or software failure of any kind.  Proof of sending will not be accepted as proof of receipt.  Entries will become the property of the Promoter.The first entry drawn at random by an independent judge from all entries received by the closing date will win: an Unreal Tournament 3 acrylic artwork print signed by the development team; a copy of the Unreal Tournament 3 game; and an Unreal Tournament 3 t-shirt. The next 9 entries drawn will each receive a copy of the Unreal Tournament 3 game; and an Unreal Tournament 3 t-shirt.The decision of the judges is final.  In the event of unforeseen circumstances the Promoter reserves the right to substitute the prize for an alternative of equal or greater value or to amend, alter or cancel the promotion.  No cash alternative will be offered.  No correspondence will be entered into.The winners will be notified by email within 28days of the closing date. The winners must claim their prize within 60 days of the notification.  If the prize is unclaimed after this time, it will lapse and the Promoter reserves the right to offer the unclaimed prize to a substitute winner selected in accordance with the Promotion rules.The winners' details (names and countries) will be made available on request to those sending an e-mail to competitions@community.eu.playstation.com within ten weeks after the closing date.The Promotion winners may be required to participate in publicity arising from this Promotion.By entering the Promotion, all entrants will be deemed to have accepted and be bound by the rules and consent to the transfer of their personal data to the Promoter for the purposes of the administration of this Promotion and any other purposes to which the entrant has consented. All entry instructions form part of the rules.These terms and conditions shall be governed by English law and the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction.  Please note that the offer to participate in this Promotion does not extend to persons resident in countries where local, state, provincial or national laws prohibit the promotion of, operation of or participation in sweepstakes, lotteries or similar prize draws.

Promoter: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited, 10 Great Marlborough Street, London W1F 7LP

World of PlayStation: Sport
Torque Engine main reason for Penny Arcade’s absence on PSN

Sony taking action against unlicensed replica gun

Commenting on the "replica Uncharted gun," that we posted about yesterday, Sony has told Gamesindustry.biz that it is not officially endorsed and they certainly don't condone it. The gun is supposed to be a replica of Drake's weapon from the 2007 gem, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Without official licensing from Sony, however, selling it as such is just a sneaky attempt at cashing in on the game's success.

Sony has said that they are "investigating the source of this product and will proceed with the most appropriate action." Appropriate action, in this case, probably means letting loose their pack of half-starved, feral lawyers. So don't expect it to be around for too much longer.





ps3fanboy.com


Sony trademarks Qore, an “interactive magazine”

Haze initial reviews are not promising

Many PS3 gamers are excited for Haze, the PS3 "exclusive" FPS from Free Radical. Since the launch of the playable demo, opinions have been mixed: some loved the instant-action multiplayer offerings, while others were underwhelmed by the core gameplay mechanics of the game. While these initial reviews aren't necessarily representative of the critical mass, they do point towards a less-than-favorable outcome for this anticipated game.
IGN (45/100) - "While their previous work was quite excellent, Haze is anything but, coming across as a middling, generic first-person shooter with bland visuals, a weak plot and laughable characters."GamersHell (65/100) - "Haze is still sitting in the wake of Call of Duty 4, and falls into that category of being just another FPS. The game tries to include different content with Nectar abilities and rebel dynamics, but a confused story, lacking gameplay elements and technical bugs bog the game down from being a stellar PS3 exclusive."The A.V. Club (C+) - "More narratively cohesive than the Halo trilogy, but less inventive and compelling than Resistance: Fall Of Man ... too bad it's paired with one of the more pedestrian FPS games to come along in recent years." [Thanks, blank!]





ps3fanboy.com


Motorstorm Pacific Rift gameplay vids surface
Welcome to Movement

Quiz vision

Buzz! opens up a new world of quiz entertainment on PLAYSTATION 3 and PSP.

"Not only does Buzz! on PS3 offer over 5,000 on-disc questions across a choice of topic areas, brand new Wireless buzzers, Sofa Vs Sofa online play against teams across the world; and the opportunity to download further quiz packs from the PLAYSTATION Store" said David Reeves, President, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe at PlayStation Day, "but it also gives would-be quiz masters the chance to create their own questions, share them with the community and play them within the game itself."

Since October 2003 Relentless Software has been working on Buzz!, refining and improving their winning formula of quiz gaming using easy to use buzzers. Buzz!: Quiz TV on PS3 is the next step, if previous titles have been individual game shows, then this is like a whole TV network at your control.

With 5,000 questions, divided into five categories - The Music Channel, The Movies and TV Channel, The Sports Channel, The Knowledge Channel, and The Lifestyle Channel - there truly is something for every quiz lover in Buzz!: Quiz TV.

All of this is of course presented by your irrepressible host Buzz who looks, the rumours of an alleged nip and tuck aside, better than ever with PS3 powering the show. His new show now has a budget to match his ego with no expense spared on the set.

Budget hasn't just been spent on set dressing, although a lot of it has been spent on Buzz's fees. Buzz!: Quiz TV has new peripherals for you to play with - Wireless buzzers; no longer will you get your wires in a tizz as you celebrate success.

Where the new format really excels is downloadable content and online gaming. Although a Blu-ray Disc can pack a ton of challenging questions, more will be available from PLAYSTATION Store. These expansion packs will be aimed at specific countries and you can play them as stand alone games or weave this extra content into the existing Channel mix. Sci-fi movies, musical Rock Legends and Videogames quiz packs will be available on PLAYSTATION Store.

Sofa vs. Sofa takes Buzz! online. It might be fun playing against friends and family but together you can take on other teams across the world. This new feature lets you take your practiced quiz skills to the next level with up to four teams competing at once.

Questions not tough enough? My Buzz! will allow you to create your own quizzes and share them with the community, both on PS3 and PC for free. Fellow community members can rate your quiz, the most popular ones rising to the top of the rankings. Have you got what it takes

"Whether it's a quiz on a recent family holiday or the ultimate test for true Star Trek fanatics, My Buzz! lets trivia fans create, rate, share and play any question content they want" added David Reeves, during his presentation at PlayStation Day.

Another first is Buzz! coming to PSP. Like the new PS3 show, Buzz!: Master Quiz boasts thousands of trivia questions covering topics such as music, movies and TV, sports, knowledge and celebrities. However, the round types have been geared towards playing a quiz on the move and include a series of 15 different challenges designed to test your knowledge to the limit in single player.

Social play is still the key aspect though and Buzz!: Master Quiz supports three multiplayer modes: Pass Around, one PSP passed from player to player; Game Sharing, four friends using multiple PSP systems share just one copy of the game; and Quiz Host, where one player takes control of the game and asks their friends questions.

Both shows, Buzz!: Quiz TV and Buzz!: Master Quiz, will begin this summer on PLAYSTATION 3 and PSP.

European PSN Store PlayStation Day 2008 update
Buzz! comes to the PSN with Buzz! Junior Jungle Party this Summer

MGS4 may be end of Snake, but not the end of series

Of course Konami would be reluctant to end the Metal Gear series; it's one of their biggest franchises. While Kojima has insisted that Solid Snake must meet his end in the upcoming MGS4, it doesn't necessarily mean that the franchise will be over. Ryan Payton told MTV Multiplayer that "I think there's been some misconceptions that this is the last 'Metal Gear ... This is really just the last chapter of the saga of the Solid Snake story."

The franchise has many other directions it can go, but until we play through Snake's latest saga, we won't really know where. Perhaps we'll play as someone completely new, or go back in time once again (a la Metal Gear Solid 3). There are tons of possibilities.

[Via Joystiq]





ps3fanboy.com


GameTrailer’s Metal Gear Retrospective Part 2: Metal Gear Solid
Watch Kojima play the first ten minutes of Metal Gear Solid 4