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Joystiq's Big Ol' Black Friday and Cyber Monday Bargain Roundup
It's dangerous to shop alone, so take this – our regularly updated mega-post on the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals: Contained within the hallowed walls of this post are links to every Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday deal we've written about since this year's madness started, and you can rest assured that we'll be updating this list as new deals/sales/bartering agreements are announced. Additionally, the deal summaries may not include every aspect of an outlet's sale(s), so be sure and click thoroughly as you construct your battle plan.We're going to assume you've already rented enough riot gear for you and your loved ones to wear while shopping, so we're going to skip that part and get right to the four shops you'd planned on visiting anyway: Best Buy: $30 doorbusters and console combo packs GameStop: $40 Forza Horizon, $250 360 with Skyrim, Black Ops 2 Target: $20 Target gift cards with select games, more bundles Walmart: $15 Dance Central 3, $90 Wii, dignity on back-order
Now Playing: November 19-25, 2012
Hit like a pro this week with Hitman: Absolution... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
PS3 up to 70 million shipped worldwide, Move over 15 million
PlayStation 3 worldwide shipments reached the 70 million mark as of November 4, Sony announced today. The figure is confirmed as being "sell-in," meaning it represents the amount of units sold to retailers rather than to customers. Sony also revealed Move, the PS3's motion controller, is now up to 15 million shipped as of November 11.The announcement comes shortly after Microsoft confirmed Xbox 360 reached the same milestone in its latest earnings report, The current-gen home console leader is the Wii, up to 97.2 million as of September 30. Sony also announced worldwide sales of PS3 software is now over 595 million. A bit of quick maths says that equates to around 8 and a half games per console shipped. As for what exactly constitutes half a game, we'll leave the suggestions to you.
PlayStation 3 global sales hit 70 million, over 15 million Move controllers sold
Sony has announced that it's now sold over 70 million PlayStation 3 consoles -- matching the number of Xboxes sold according to Microsoft's latest financial report. Direct from the Japanese console maker, it also revealed that more than 15 million PlayStation Move motion controllers have been sold since its launch over two years ago. Meanwhile, the slightly aging (but constantly tweaked) base console is now approaching its sixth birthday, but there's no word yet on its hardware successor, with Sony preferring to focus on new connectivity features between the PS3 and its handheld relative.
Now Playing: November 12-18, 2012
An all-new Cold War heats up this week in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
LittleBigPlanet Karting review: Making tracks
I've never been a huge fan of the LittleBigPlanet series, but I've always respected it. I'm rendered powerless by its peerless charm, and the depth of its creation tools and the resulting masterworks churned out by its playrs never cease to amaze. My one gripe, shared by many others, is that the actual gameplay of LittleBigPlanet never seems to live up to most platformers. The floaty jumps, chancy landings, and overall soupy feel to the controls always let me down.In LittleBigPlanet Karting, at least, my one gripe has been wiped away, with developer United Front adopting a playbook long ago established by the Mario Kart series, including its simple, precise controls. The difference, and this is important, is that unlike Mario Kart, LittleBigPlanet Karting potentially has as many tracks as its players can dream up.%Gallery-170603%
J.S. Joust, Hokra, Pole Riders, and BaraBariBall unite as 'Sportsfriends' on PS3 and computers
Johann Sebastian Joust, the game of dueling Move controllers you may have seen at industry events, is officially coming to the PlayStation 3 and computers. And it's bringing friends.Sportsfriends is a collection of four indie games that all share a focus on local multiplayer and a capacity to draw crowds of spectators. Producer Doug Wilson, who also created J.S. Joust, told Joystiq he thinks of the downloadable collection as "a 21st-century reincarnation of Summer Games." Accordingly, it'll be released in "Summer/Fall 2013."The collection will be funded both by Sony's Pub Fund and through a Kickstarter, which will also act as a pre-order platform. Now let's make friends with the four new sports:
PSN Tuesday: Portal 2 In Motion, Toe Jam & Earl return
All of the Xbox owners out there are probably spending Election Night celebrating the arrival of Halo 4, but there's good news for you too, PS3 owners. The latest update to PSN brings digital versions of LittleBigPlanet Karting and Vanquish, as well as a digital version of Portal 2 with "In Motion" DLC, for use with the PlayStation Move accessory (as seen in the trailer above). When Vikings Attack and PID are now both available on the PSN store, as are both the original Toe Jam & Earl and the Panic on Funkotron sequel. Rygar hits as a PS2 classic, and Saint's Row 3 and Sleeping Dogs have digital bundles to download. PS Plus members have some new sales to choose from, and there are all kinds of new downloads and add-ons to find across the rest of the network. To see everything that's new on the PlayStation Store, hit up the PlayStation blog.
Now Playing: November 5-11, 2012
A hero returns this week in Halo 4... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Portal 2 'In Motion' DLC hits PSN Nov. 6, full game gets Move support
The Move-based 'In Motion' DLC for Portal 2 drops in 3, 2, 1 ... okay, not now, but on Tuesday, November 6 for $9.99. The full game also gets Move support on the same day.The Sixense-developed DLC includes 20 new test chambers, as well as letting you play with the size of cubes, drag placed portals. and rotate objects. These motion-controlled features are specific to the DLC, but the patched-in Move support applies to the full game, both in single-player and co-op.The DLC coincides with Portal 2 coming to PSN as a download, with Move support built in. The price hasn't yet been disclosed, but PlayStation Plus members can look forward to it and the In Motion DLC being 30 percent off at launch.
Now Playing: October 29 - November 4, 2012
Explore the New World one kill at a time with Assassin's Creed 3... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
The Unfinished Swan is totally done, here's a launch trailer to prove it
This launch trailer for The Unfinished Swan guides you through some of the intriguing scenery in the serene game. The Giant Sparrow-developed game is out now on PSN, and our review indicates that it's not one to be missed.
Sports Champions 2 demo finds the net on PSN later today
Sports Champions 2 shoots a demo onto PlayStation Network later today, with the full game scoring next week on October 30. Sony's motion-controlled follow-up includes five new sportsballs, namely tennis, golf, skiing, bowling and boxing. The demo releasing today throws you onto the court/fairway/slopes with the first three.The Move-supported sports-fest also introduces new features, as outlined by the above video. Beyond fine-tuning like simpler calibration and multiple user profiles, there's the new Party Play mode, more avatar customization, and improvements to Archery. While the game does let you use PS Move, the awesome Tron-like equipment in the video isn't compatible, probably because it's too awesome to exist.
Now Playing: October 22-28, 2012
Become an elite soldier this week with Medal of Honor: Warfighter... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Dancing Eyes and the death of a Generation
Welcome to Living in the Past, a weekly column about what's new in old games. Now get off our lawn. The Namco Generations series brought us cool reimaginings of Namco's ubiquitous arcade games, including Pac-Man Championship Edition DX and Galaga Legions DX. It can also be assumed to retroactively include games like Pac-Man Championship Edition that came out before the series was named.Namco Generations appears to have come to an end now – at least Namco's been quiet about it – and that likely end came before two of the announced Generations games could make it to release. For some reason, Namco planned updates for relatively obscure arcade games Metro-Cross and Dancing Eyes alongside the Pac-Man and Galaga flagships.Above, you can see what the company had in mind for the PS3 update of Dancing Eyes (embedded from a third-party Youtube channel since Namco made its own video private). The PS3 game is sort of like Qix, except instead of surrounding rectangular spaces in a flat, stark vector retroscape, you're a monkey cutting pieces off a girl's clothes. The surprise isn't that it was canceled this year; rather, the surprise is that someone at Namco thought this was a viable game concept on two separate occasions.
PSN Tuesday: PS All-Stars beta, Silent Hill: Book of Memories, free Payday for PS Plus
Continuing its Day 1 Digital promotion, PSN has launch-day downloads of Doom 3: BFG Edition and 007 Legends available today. On top of that, all PS Vita users can hop into a PS All-Stars: Battle Royale beta. PS3 owners can get in on it too, but they'll need a PS Plus subscription.Silent Hill: Book of Memories launches today for the PS Vita, and PS Plus members can add Payday: The Heist to their Instant Game Collection. There's also a large Halloween-themed sale discounting select spooky games and DLC, the complete list of which you can see over on the PlayStation Blog.
Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut arrives on PS3 in Q1 2013 [update: Move confirmed]
Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut is pulling into PlayStation 3 in the first quarter of 2013 for North America and Europe, Rising Star Games announced. The enhanced re-release includes new content, and will receive new downloadable content. It also features a high definition face-lift and reworked controls.Deadly Premonition creator SWERY65 announced the remastered PS3 edition of his 2010 cult favorite back in March, telling us it would feature new content and Move controls. The press release from Rising Star makes no mention of Move, so we've reached out to the publisher for confirmation.Update: Rising Star confirmed to us Move support is still planned.
Now Playing: October 15-21, 2012
Make good use of that license to kill this week with 007 Legends... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
The Unfinished Swan review: Palette cleanser
Video games are good at a lot of things. Typically, they appeal to our baser instincts – usually the desire for power, in whatever form that may take, be it blasting aliens, slaying dragons or scoring touchdowns. What they do particularly well that isn't explored often enough, is rekindle our childhood capacity for amazement.I think this is something that most invested players realize, whether they've ever articulated it or not. More than books or movies, games engage us, and the good ones pull us in. They can remind us what it was like to lift a rock in a garden, discovering the creatures that live underneath, or how it felt to dribble paint on a sheet of paper, fold it in half and reveal a butterfly.The Unfinished Swan is the story of a child, Monroe. Its ability to plant players firmly in his shoes, to help us see the world as he does, is what makes it special.%Gallery-168082%
Unfinished Swan dev diary paints a picture with music
The latest dev diary for The Unfinished Swan dips into the games (unsurprisingly delightful) music. The music was inspired by the game's characters, the boy Monroe and the strange King. Despite the title, however, the soundtrack appears to be devoid of honking, which seems a little disingenuous.
