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Sony patent shows redesigned Move with dangerous possibilities
Sony recently filed a patent that describes a method for determining the location of a PS Move-like controller through a sound capturing device. The patent describes the two-dimensional light-tracking that the current Move device uses in conjunction with sounds emitted from the controller, which would provide a gauge for the controller's "depth" in association with the sound capture device located on the TV.What's more, the patent includes a number of pictures that show a Move-like controller with swappable face plates for different button setups, as seen after the break, as well as the ability to attach controllers together in a number of ways. Among the patent's illustrations is one depicting a child performing a bicycle kick while playing a soccer game with Move controllers attached to his hands and legs. Simulation sports games may never be the same.
LittleBigPlanet 2: Extras Edition coming to Europe in February
LittleBigPlanet 2: Extras Edition was recently announced for Europe, and is due to release in February. Extras Edition will include the original game along with three bonus level packs and a number of costumes for Sackboy to wear.Of the packed-in level kits, the previously-released Cross-Controller Pack is included, which has players using their Vita systems to control Sackboy in the game. The other level packs bundled on the disc are the Move Pack: Rise of the Cakeling, which features PlayStation Move controls, and The Muppets Premium Level Kit. Click past the break to check out the full box art of the Extras Edition.
Sony patent application reimagines PlayStation Move with ultrasonic capabilities, IR emitters
A redesigned PlayStation Move? Sony's taken a stab at it before -- but this time around, it's imagining a controller with ultrasonic location analysis and Wiimote-like IR tracking. A new patent application details a "method for determining location of a controller," which proposes tracking controller depth by measuring the travel time of sound emitted from the device to the television. Two-dimensional tracking would be managed via the existing Move's visual spectrum camera, or by using a display-mounted IR emitter in conjunction with a remote mounted sensor (again, just like the Wii controller). Although not technically part of the patent, the application's attached visual aids are pretty creative too -- showcasing a completely redesigned Move wand with swappable button faceplates. One embodiment shows two Move controllers attached end-to-end, mimicking a sword, while another shows a pair side by side, linked by a full gamepad sized faceplate. One bold image shows a player with two devices strapped to his ankles, performing a backwards flip to kick a digital soccer ball -- Sony is apparently very confident about the patent's potential tracking accuracy. We'll reserve judgment until we see the technology in practice, but feel free to read the claims for yourself at the source link below, or simply mosey on past the break to see the aforementioned athlete trying to break his neck.
Now Playing: January 7-13, 2013
Fight to become the ultimate survivor this week with Anarchy Reigns... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Move-supported Dance Magic boogies onto PSN January 8
Dance Magic is bringing its Move-supported jives to North America's PlayStation Network on January 8. From Planets Under Attack developer Targem Games, Dance Magic sees you employ the PS3 peripheral in a quasi-fighting style dance offs, all as part of a quest to save the world from "a rising evil," by using "biological energy that can only be realized by dancing." If you ask us, biological energy on the dance floor sounds like the kind of funk that has us reaching for air freshener, but maybe that's just when we dance.Publisher Gaijin Entertainment says the game features seven dance styles, 20 music tracks, and co-operative shimmying for online strutters. %Gallery-174608%
Hit List Q&A: David Cage, founder of Quantic Dream
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Quantic Dream's David Cage. David Cage founded Quantic Dream in 1997, with the ambition of using interactivity as a new means of expression. He developed a creative vision based upon emotion, innovation and immersive storytelling. After his first video game Omikron featuring famous singer David Bowie, the game Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy) received great critical acclaim and won several awards worldwide. In 2010, Heavy Rain, a dark thriller produced by Sony, met critical acclaim and commercial success, selling over 2.3 million units to date. Heavy Rain was the winner of three Interactive Achievement Awards in 2011 (now called the D.I.C.E. Awards) - Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, and Outstanding Achievement in Original Music CompositionIn 2012, Cage launched a new tech demo called KARA, featuring an android girl with an actress who delivered a stunning acting performance. Quantic Dream is currently in production of Beyond, a game written and directed by David Cage, starring actress Ellen Page. The game, produced by Sony exclusively on PlayStation 3, will be released in 2013.In his forthcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit session, Cage will be speaking on "The Peter Pan Syndrome: The Industry that Refused to Grow Up." In a significantly changing landscape dominated by franchises, where new devices with 89c games get more and more of consumers' attention, the video game industry is confronted with a massive challenge. A new console cycle is about to start, new business models and platforms appear while creativity and risk taking has never been lower.The game industry, having always refused to grow up, is now confronted with a new dilemma: evolve or stagnate. The first and most important revolution to start is about content. Based on his experience and fifteen years in the industry developing original content, David Cage will explain in a passionate, thought-provoking presentation (with a French accent) his vision for content in the future and why he believes it is the key to expanding our market and finally become a mature industry.
Now Playing: December 17-23, 2012
Explore a mysterious subterranean world this week with Knytt Underground... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Sony's 'Play Days' sale discounts PS3 accessories, Move bundles
Starting tomorrow, PlayStation 3 accessories (and even two actual games) will be discounted by up to 60 percent at participating retailers. The "Play Days" promotion, as Sony calls it, knocks dollar-dollar-bills-y'all off the MSRP of pretty much anything that plugs into a PlayStation 3, from Dual Shocks, to Move bundles, charging stations and media remotes. Wonderbook bundles and Sports Champions 2 will also receive holiday prices starting this Monday.The promotion runs until Saturday, January 12, so folks buying stuff for the PS3 they received during whatever winter-time gift-giving holiday they celebrate will be able to save some scratch as well. Hit the source link below for the full list of discounted products, or watch the above trailer and write very, very quickly.
Now Playing: December 10-16, 2012
Begin your fight against the first American monarchy this week with Assassin's Creed 3 - The Tyranny of King Washington... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Sportsfriends passes Kickstarter goal on last day [update]
The Sportsfriends have triumphed over the Legion of Budget Constraints. The local multiplayer game collection has passed its $150,000 Kickstarter goal, with $153,175 raised and six hours remaining as of writing.Now that the Kickstarter goal has been met, the project will receive funding and therefore will exist on PS3 next fall, with PC, Mac, and Linux releases to follow. The collection includes upgraded versions of Johann Sebastian Joust, Hokra, BaraBariBall, and Pole Riders.If you're still thinking about pledging, or increasing your pledge (as Notch did; his additional $3000 is what finally exceeded the goal), there are some recent additions to the rewards list you might want to know about. The $60 level has a bunch of new, exclusive indie games and prototypes, including a gamepad version of QWOP and a new game by Nifflas. The $100 tier offers one of a selection of t-shirts and one of the Joust controller charms seen above.Update: After a surprisingly tumultuous final day, during which large pledges were suddenly pulled, the Kickstarter drive has officially ended at $152,451.
Liveblogging the Spike VGA 2012 [Update: It's over!]
It's that time of year again!The annual Spike Video Game Awards are about to kick off with host Samuel L. Jackson in Los Angeles and we'll be to cover all of the world exclusives and crack jokes about the giant hologram walls. So join us over the course of the next two hours or so while we try not to devolve into madness.Update: Show's over, thanks for joining us in the liveblog!
Free BioShock offer with PS3 copies of Infinite is North America-only
In June 2011 we learned that BioShock Infinite for PS3 comes with a free copy of the original BioShock – this is still true, but only for US customers, 2K Games tells Videogamer."I can confirm that the PS3 version of BioShock Infinite in North America contains a copy of the original BioShock," 2K says. "This is not the case in UK as it's a local promotion in North America."The second half of that promise made in June last year is still completely true, at least: BioShock Infinite includes Move support, as solidified by the North American PS3 box art. It doesn't, of course, have a separate, new peripheral for Move.
Exclusive Epic Mickey 2 PS3 hardware bundles at Target
A new PS3 bundle available only at Target gets you the system and Move controller you'll need to play J.S. Joust (assuming the Sportsfriends Kickstarter is a success!) and throws in Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Illusion for good measure.The $300 bundle comes with a 250GB PS3, a copy of the game, a Move, a Navigation Controller, a PS Eye camera, and 30 days of PlayStation Plus. We didn't find Epic Mickey 2 to be strong enough to anchor a bundle, but the character is at least more recognizable than, say, Infamous guy.
Just save on Just Dance 4, other exercise games today
Today's Gold Box deals on Amazon are primarily dance and fitness-themed. The deal of the day is Just Dance 4 for $22.99 on Wii, Xbox 360, or PS3. Time-limited deals throughout the day include, well, a lot of Zumbas.There are also some assorted non-Zumba offers, like Epic Mickey 2 at 1pm PST/4pm EST, a Black Ops 2 headset at 8pm PST/11pm EST and some kind of arcade stick at 10pm PST/1am EST. You can try to play Zumba with that, but it won't be a great aerobic workout.
Now Playing: December 3-9, 2012
Travel to a psycho's paradise this week with Far Cry 3... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Wonderbook: Book of Spells review: Inter-house unity
I've been unwittingly preparing for this review for eight months, since I joined Pottermore on the day it launched for the public.Pottermore is an official, browser-based supplement to the Harry Potter series, inspired by social networks. Each member has a profile and travels through the Harry Potter books in a series of active illustrations, collecting trinkets, learning more about the characters and events, and earning points for whichever house they are sorted into. There is a set of spell-casting and potion-concocting minigames that eventually lead to the House Cup celebration, where the house with the most points wins. Pottermore now has more than 4 million members worldwide, and yes, even as a woman in my mid-20s I think this whole thing is perfectly normal and necessary.When I learned there was a new badge for finding Miranda Goshawk's Book of Spells in the Restricted Section on Pottermore, I was excited (again, totally normal). My heart pumped half a beat faster, my cheeks flushed and I smiled, for Merlin's sake. I was filled with joy at the prospect of uncovering secrets about a fictional book within the universe of an already fictional book, and I reveled in it. It wasn't until I discovered the tome, which played a quirky promo for Sony's Wonderbook: Book of Spells, that I finally understood how this related to my professional life.If I could be excited for Book of Spells within Pottermore, I should give the actual PlayStation Move game the same chance.%Gallery-172524%
Sony files patent for transforming Move/DualShock controller
A newly discovered Sony patent application reveals a device that literally sticks together the functionality of the PlayStation Move and its Navigation Controller with the form factor of the DualShock. The "Hybrid Separable Motion Controller," filed last May, consists of two halves of a standard DualShock shape, each with a Move-style orb at the top.Both sides have accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers to sense motion, and can be operated either separately or locked together into one unit. It's designed such that games will be able to detect the configuration in use.We're asking Sony if the company intends to use this concept in the PS3 or future devices.
Now Playing: November 26 - December 1, 2012
Help Aria T'Loak take back her station and get in some revenge while doing it with the Mass Effect 3 - Omega DLC... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
US kids want an iPad more than a Wii U for the holidays, Nielsen finds
It's worthwhile to note that this Nielsen graph showing the most-wanted tech gadgets for kids age 6 - 12 in the US is titled "Interest in Buying in the Next 6 Months." That's probably an incorrect assertion, since we haven't seen any 8-year-olds working the late shift at McDonald's recently. It should be titled, "Interest in Having Someone Buy This For Me in the Next 6 Months."Kids' holiday wishlists are dominated by the iPad, snagging the top spot from 48 percent of respondents age 6 - 12. Right behind that is the Wii U, with 39 percent. More iDevices complete the top five, though Kinect has 31 percent, and 3DS/3DS XL and other DS models grab 29 and 28 percent, respectively. PS3 comes in with 26 percent, followed by the Xbox 360 with 25 percent. Strangely enough, 18 percent of kids want a PSP, while just 14 percent would take the Vita.In a separate study of people 13 and older, the iPad remains king with 21 percent, making the split more even across all devices. Wii U is fourth in this group with 17 percent, while the PS3 gets 8 percent and the Xbox 360 7 percent. The Vita surpasses the PSP, 4 percent compared with 3 percent.Check out the complete graphs below.
Disney Epic Mickey 2 - The Power of Two review: Of mice and meh
Keep track of all of Joystiq's Wii U launch coverage on our Wii U hub page! When an earthquake rattles the denizens of Wasteland, a melancholic dumping ground for Disney creations long forgotten, the Mad Doctor emerges with evil mustache intact – but a nicer public act. He's changed his tune, he says and sings, convincing all within earshot that he's due for a second chance. And never mind that he just burst forth from the earth on a gigantic robot, just as the town broke in half. That's no cause for suspicion, surely.Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two is something of a second chance for Junction Point's series, at least to my mind. The first game was tinged with a strange sadness as it caught up with characters discarded by their creators, though what empathy there was came in cutscenes more often than play. Mechanically, Mickey Mouse's house wasn't in order.The sequel promises an improved camera, more elaborate choices, a musical flair, a playable partnership with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and the same exquisite appreciation and restoration of Disney's dusty history. Sadly, these claims of a better game are about as believable as the Mad Doctor's sudden turnaround, and Epic Mickey 2 slides into mediocrity after just a few steps.%Gallery-165274%
