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PSA: Three Sleeping Dogs DLC packs out today
Three DLC packs for Sleeping Dogs launch today for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC: The Street Racer pack runs $4 (320 MS Points), the Tactical Soldier pack is $2 (160 MS Points), and the Community Gift pack is free (otherwise it wouldn't be much of a gift).Street Racer adds three new races on land and sea, titled Kamikaze, Cross Island Enduro and Harbor Run – the last of which is the water-based race, if that wasn't obvious. This pack includes a new Sting racing bike and a Dragon outfit.Tactical Soldier includes the assault rifle, known as "the game's most powerful and destructive weapon," and the strongest armor of the game, the Tactical outfit. The Community Gift pack includes wardrobe items from developer United Front Games, for United Front Games: a studio t-shirt, a UFG-themed, environmentally friendly compact car and a luchador mask, which is apparently some sort of inside joke for the development team.All three packs are available right now, so get racing, tactician-ing and wrestling, we guess.
Sleeping Dogs DLC goes street racing on October 16
Square Enix has gone on the record about several Sleeping Dogs DLC packs coming in October, and the first supplementary content pack has been dated for October 16. The 'Street Racer' DLC pack will be available for 320 MS Points on Xbox 360, $3.99 on both PlayStation 3 and PC via Steam. The DLC pack adds three new races across land and sea.'Street Racer' also adds a new motorcycle to Wei Shen's garage and a new outfit to his closet, boosting defense against gunfire and accidents. Retailers recently slashed the price of Sleeping Dogs – it's $40 on both Xbox 360 and PS3 on Amazon and GameStop, or as a $30 PC download through GameStop.
Sleeping Dogs DLC rouses first story missions, many content packs in October
The plan to provide six months of Sleeping Dogs DLC continues across October. Square Enix will dish out a variety of mission packs and in-game items, presumably as premium (see: you gotta buy it) DLC – like the Street Racer pack, which adds three new races, one in a car, one on a motorcycle and one steering a boat. Packed in is a new Sting motorbike, a custom helmet and a leather jacket that adds extra defense against gunfire.The SWAT pack puts you in an armored van as you patrol the streets of Hong Kong, responding to various emergencies in your new SWAT tactical uniform that can "withstand twice as much damage." The Tactical Soldier pack puts an assault rifle with an attached grenade launcher in your hands and a tactical uniform, accessible at any time from your apartment. As far as price goes for all this stuff, Square Enix isn't talking how much – in the past these packs have typically cost a few bucks a pop. A free community gift pack will be available sometime in October, the contents of which haven't been revealed yet. And, finally, the first DLC to extend the Sleeping Dogs story will also be available in October and is set to be revealed at New York Comic Con on October 14.
Meet LittleBigPlanet Karting's antagonists, 'The Hoard'
Apparently, after the events of LittleBigPlanet 2, mysterious beings from far away lands arrived on Craftworld and began hoarding all of the world's most valuable treasures, with no other motivation than to be in possession of them. Somehow, this all translates to go-kart racing.
LittleBigPlanet Karting pre-orders at Gamestop include 'Headstart Pack,' exclusive Sackboy and kart
We caught wind a while ago that pre-ordering LittleBigPlanet Karting from Gamestop or Amazon would net you a sweet Kevin Butler Sackboy and golf-cart kart, but now Gamestop's pre-order offering has been upgraded with some extra chotchkies.For starters, Gamestop pre-orders now come with an exclusive "Headstart Pack" that immediately unlocks 900-plus pieces of construction materials, costumes, karts and music that would normally have to be earned by, you know, playing the game. It also includes a United Front Games-themed Sackboy and accompanying arcade cabinet kart (as seen above), as well as the Kevin Butler stuff we already knew about.
Metareview: Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs is going through the normal pains of a new sandbox franchise's first outing. The reviews are good, but not great. The tech works, but it's not as polished as others in the genre. It's hard to be top dog in the sandbox crime genre when your competition includes Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row. IGN (85/100): "Sleeping Dogs did things that wowed me from the moment I started playing, and it never really stopped. A few finicky issues aside, Sleeping Dogs has proven itself worthy of joining the top class of open-world sandbox games revolutionized by the likes of Grand Theft Auto IV and currently topped by more recent additions like Saints Row: The Third. But don't be confused; Sleeping Dogs does some things better than even the cream of the crop, and its story will be what keeps you focused on playing." Giant Bomb (4/5): "So perhaps Sleeping Dogs isn't one of those games you'll want to keep on playing long after you've seen its story's conclusion. But while you're engaged with that story, this is an effective open-world experience, filled with interesting characters, some exciting action, and enough unpredictability to keep you hooked. It might feel familiar, but that doesn't make it any less fun." Game Informer (78/100): "Sleeping Dogs has enough entertainment value to justify Square Enix's decision to save it from cancellation, but it also displays a lack of polish that makes its troubled development evident. For fans of open world games, it comes at a good time. Gamers who purchased Saints Row: The Third most likely finished it months ago, and we still don't have a confirmed release window for Grand Theft Auto V. If you're looking to explore the criminal underbelly of a city and get in some trouble, you could do worse than Sleeping Dogs while you wait for Rockstar's top dog." Eurogamer (70/100): "It's a sad irony that the gameplay format that offers the most freedom for the player is the one most likely to trap developers in a loop of repetitive, copycat design. They have the ability to conjure up large, populated, realistic worlds and traverse them in any number of ways, and yet still we end up getting the same old cops-and-robbers story."%Gallery-156085%
Three new Sleeping Dogs DLC packs rough up Steam
Three new DLC packs for Sleeping Dogs have landed on Steam, running $3 a pop. There's the Red Envelope Pack, which sends players on a hunt throughout Hong Kong for 20 red envelopes stuffed with $50,000 each, netting an eventual $1 million (HK dollars, that is).Next up is the Top Dog Gold Pack, which nets players 8,250 Triad, 4,500 Cop and 4,500 extra Face Experience Points. The High Roller Pack provides $200,000 and early access to the luxury Tuono vehicle and High Roller suit, both of which can be earned otherwise by playing the game.
Sleeping Dogs and the amazing disappearing woman trick
Sleeping Dogs protagonist Wei Shen is the Vegas magician of Hong Kong. He can make women disappear by placing them in bathrooms ... the only problem is making them reappear once the trick is over. Shen likely picked up the trick visiting Saints Row 2's town of Stilwater.
Stiq Flicks: Sleeping Dogs and Hard Boiled
Stiq Flicks – from film and video game industry freelance writer Kevin Kelly – examines video games and attempts to pair them with matching films. It's like wine and cheese, but with more aliens. Sleeping Dogs is enjoying life this week after a near-death experience as True Crime: Hong Kong at Activision before being resurrected in its current form at Square Enix. But you can't even begin to think about Sleeping Dogs, let alone play it, without mentioning Hong Kong action cinema. Once you've stepped into that arena, you can't go any further without discussing the films of directors Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam, and John Woo (to name a few). Then of course, you have to bring in Chow Yun-fat. While there are many other fantastic Hong Kong action actors, Chow rose quickly to the pinnacle, and became the actor most associated with the genre on North American shores. It's hard to imagine Sleeping Dogs existing in a world where these filmmakers and their movies didn't exist. Where these directors pulled back the curtain on the seedy criminal element deep inside of Hong Kong, the game picks up and continues. While there are many terrific films that would go along nicely with this title, we're pegging Hard Boiled as the one to go with. In fact, without Hard Boiled, there would never have been Sleeping Dogs.
Sleeping Dogs review: Triad true
Sleeping Dogs has been through a heap of concept and name changes throughout its development, but the Vancouver-based firm United Front Games has finally unleashed its latest creation.It's worlds apart from the developer's first game Modnation Racers, but Sleeping Dogs isn't completely unfamiliar. From its narrative to gameplay features, Sleeping Dogs is an amalgamation of other people's good ideas. It's not inspiring, it's inspired.%Gallery-156085%
Sleeping Dogs staying awake with six months of planned DLC
Square Enix says that Sleeping Dogs won't lie down for long, revealing six months of downloadable content are planned for the game following its launch tomorrow.First on the docket will be a range of downloads available for the game's awakening at retail tomorrow, including the 80s-inspired Retro Triad Pack, featuring "a killer old school outfit with its own player buffs and funky kung-fu van."New packs will appear in September, beginning with "a high-speed Racing Pack and an explosive SWAT Pack." Details on those two bundles are sparse, but their names give us some idea what shenanigans are to come.For more on Sleeping Dogs, check out our recent live stream and stay tuned for the review tomorrow.%Gallery-156085%
JoyStream: Watch and win Sleeping Dogs [Update: Watch the replay!]
Our first live stream of Sleeping Dogs was so successful, we've decided to venture through the mean streets of Hong Kong once more. This time, Joystiq is giving away multiple Steam versions of the game to viewers. Tune in for the hand-to-hand combat, action hijacking, and slow-motion bullet firing but stay for your chance to win.For more on the development of Sleeping Dogs, make sure to watch the replay of our original live stream, which featured the game's senior producer Jeff O'Connell.Watch the stream after the break and on Joystiq's official Twitch page.Sleeping Dogs launches for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 on August 14.Update: The live stream is over. Watch the replay above.%Gallery-156085%
Sleeping Dogs launch trailer is full of punches, explosions, cars
If we didn't know better, we'd think the somewhat revealingly dressed young lady in this Sleeping Dogs trailer was purposefully tantalizing the audience through innuendo-filled comments about "enjoying exciting rides," but surely that isn't the case. Hong Kong looks so nice and reserved, after all.
'Kong King' map added to Team Fortress 2, inspired by Sleeping Dogs
Have dreams of a promotional Team Fortress 2 'King of the Hill' map set in a Chinese cityscape been keeping you up nights since the free-to-play shooter's launch in 2007? "Well, your oddly specific and scarily prescient dreams have come true," the official TF2 blog has revealed.Dubbed 'Kong King,' the new map brings Team Fortress 2 into the urban environment created in collaboration with "Sleeping Dogs and community member Valentin Levillain," the blog added.This is the second cross-promotional effort between Valve's Team Fortress 2 and the upcoming United Front Games open-world undercover drama Sleeping Dogs, with pre-order customers of the game getting special Triad-inspired items in TF2.For more on Sleeping Dogs, check out the replay of our recent live stream of the game with senior producer Jeff O'Connell, and don't forget to giggle at my terrible mouse/keyboard driving skills.
Watch Sleeping Dogs go all CSI in new walkthrough video
In Sleeping Dogs, from Vancouver-based developer United Front Games, you play as an undercover police officer investigating gangs throughout Hong Kong. In a new walkthrough video, you can check out some of the available side quests in the game; namely, police investigations.
Sleeping Dogs gets limited edition in Hong Kong
Clearly, Hong Kong gamers are getting the bost bang for their buck when it comes to the limited edition of Sleeping Dogs. Square Enix is tossing in four different content packs and enveloping Sleeping Dogs in some custom packaging, according to Siliconera.The George St-Pierre pack is modeled after the MMA fighter of the same name, and includes the fighter's signature outfit and "flying punch" move for use in-game, and increased throw and grapple damage. The Police Protection pack unlocks an exclusive mission, SWAT car, SWAT outfit and rifle. The Martial Arts pack unlocks a shaolin warrior outfit and training dummy granting combat buffs. Finally, the Deep Undercover pack gives players a special undercover car and "plain clothes" costume, making it harder for criminals to detect undercover officer and protagonist Wei Shen.Our more astute readers will recognize all of these packs as pre-order bonuses for various retailers here in the US, announced back in April. Sleeping Dogs – Hong Kong Edition will launch in Hong Kong on August 17 for 388 HKD, which comes out to about 50 US dollars.
Just Cause 2 players get bonus threads in Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs players with a Just Cause 2 game save on their hard drive will find the duds of Just Cause's Rico "King of Chaos" Rodriguez in the closet of Sleeping Dogs protagonist Wei Shen. Wonder how that happened? Slashfic incoming!Wearing the clothes of Just Cause's Rodriguez will give Shen a boost to his hijack ability and allow him to "perform stunt-style takeovers of enemy vehicles from an even greater distance." The no-cost bonus will be available at launch on August 14 across all formats. %Gallery-161088%
Sleeping Dogs walkthrough is really slammin'
Sleeping Dogs? Great, another open world game about gangsters. We've seen all this bef... wait, did that guy just slam a dude's head in a car door? Did he vault over cover while simultaneously disarming someone? Did he jump off a moving motorcycle and hijack a car? Yes, yes he did.
A lot of actors are lending their pipes to Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs has a lot of talent behind its themes of Chinese thug life and a (more western-oriented)Yakuza-inspired storyline. Voice actors for Sleeping Dogs include Lucy Liu, Edison Chen, Chin Han, Lindsay Price and... is that... Emma Stone? Huh.
LittleBigPlanet Karting beta pulls into PSN on July 10
A select few beta applicants for LittleBigPlanet Karting will find the virtual gates open next week, with codes being sent out as of Tuesday, July 10. The PlayStation Blog tells us more people will be let in gradually before the program's conclusion on July 31.If you didn't sign up for the beta and find you have an interest in doing so (those karts are awfully cute), you can still sign up online.
