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Best of the Rest: Xav's picks of 2014
ATTENTION: The year 2014 has concluded its temporal self-destruct sequence. If you are among the escapees, please join us in salvaging and preserving the best games from the irradiated chrono-debris. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Set aside your cries of it being a glorified demo; you'll get no support from me. I poured dozens of hours into Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, exploring every facet, achieving S ranks throughout (some of which you can watch on my YouTube channel) and doing it again and again to test and examine its reaction to my exploration and exploitation. Ground Zeroes is a marvel of technology and, yes, it's a great tease of what Kojima Productions has in store with The Phantom Pain. Truthfully, I'm a series fanatic and – as last year's mention of Splinter Cell: Blacklist will attest – a lover of all things stealthy, so it may come as no great shock that I ended up adoring Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. But I can identify when something doesn't work and I truly believed Ground Zeroes accomplished its task beautifully. I loved the game for what it offered and ultimately delivered on: a taste of what's to come, powered by technology befitting of a main course. I think we all got a little mad about it because we can't wait for more.
All of the Lights: Many curious uses for the PS4 light bar
Sony is no stranger to idiosyncratic hardware design. Nintendo and Sega put analog sticks on their controllers in the '90s? Sony adds on an extra stick and redefines console controllers. Touch screens are de rigueur? Sony slaps a touch surface on the front and back of PS Vita. The PlayStation 4 is a sleek piece of modern consumer tech design, but even it's got its quirks. Case in point: the Dualshock 4 light bar. Every PS4 controller looks like KITT from Knight Rider, with a giant oblate spheroid of light pulsing on the front. Not just good for running down the battery, the light bar actually performs some unusual functions in a variety of games. Below the break is a taster's choice selection of memorable light bar uses from the PlayStation 4's first year of games. After browsing that, take our poll and discuss the light bar's career in the comments. What do you think of the Dualshock 4 light bar? [Images: Sony]
Injustice, Secret Ponchos join PS4 Instant Game Collection in December
Sony teased some of its coming PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection releases today, revealing that subscribers will receive free copies of NetherRealm's one-on-one fighter Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition and Wild West shoot-'em-up Secret Ponchos for the PlayStation 4 next month. Standalone Infamous: Second Son expansion Infamous: First Light and atmospheric puzzler The Swapper are next in line to join the PS4 Instant Game Collection in January. Sony notes that Injustice arrives as "the first AAA Blu-ray title to join the Instant Game Collection for PS4," replacing the postponed racer Driveclub: PS Plus Edition while developer Evolution Studios sorts out lingering server issues. "We understand many of you are waiting for Driveclub PS Plus Edition to be added to the Instant Game Collection, and we apologize that the game is not yet ready to launch," PlayStation Digital Platforms senior manager Matthew Harper stated. "We want you to know that we're committed to providing Driveclub PS Plus Edition to members when it's ready, and the Evolution team is working hard to make it a reality." [Image: Warner Bros]
Infamous dev Sucker Punch hit by layoffs, numbers unknown
Sony-owned developer Sucker Punch laid off some of its staff this week, just days ahead of Infamous: Second Son standalone expansion First Light releasing on PS4. Sony Computer Entertainment America confirmed the layoffs to IGN yesterday, though it's not known how many employees at the Infamous and Sly Cooper studio lost their jobs. "SCEA can confirm a reduction in workforce has taken place at Sucker Punch Productions," reads Sony's statement. "Sucker Punch is appreciative of the tremendous work team members contributed to the Infamous and Sly Cooper series, and wishes them the best in their next endeavors."
Infamous: First Light in the pink on Europe's retail shelves
A physical edition of standalone PS4 entry Infamous: First Light will light up Europe's storefronts on September 10. The Infamous: Second Son prequel is also coming to the region in download form, and according to the PS Store, that hits a smidgen earlier on August 27. That tallies with the listing of August 26 for North America. First Light revisits the story of Abigail "Fetch" Walker, the delinquent Neon-empowered Conduit that you meet early in Second Son. The content - which you don't need Second Son to play - focuses on Fetch's journey to becoming the hardened killer she is in the main game, taking players back in time to a dark past lurking underneath her fuchsia locks. There's no word on how much the physical copies cost, but First Light is priced £12 on the UK PS Store and $15 stateside. Check below the break to see the box art in full.
Infamous 'First Light' is indeed out in August
It's official: The Infamous: Second Son "First Light" DLC is due on August 26 in North America and August 27 in Europe. Developer Sucker Punch shared the launch date on Twitter, along with some fresh concept art. First Light stars Fetch, a Conduit who controls neon, and sees her spending time in a prison for super-powered people. While there, she relives the tragedies of her past. Sony let slip the release date on the PlayStation Store earlier this week. [Image: Sucker Punch]
Infamous 'First Light' DLC dated for August
The PlayStation Store lists Infamous: Second Son's "First Light" DLC with a release date of August 26. The date appears both on the console store and the online store. First Light stars Abigail Walker, the neon-controlling Conduit also known as Fetch, as she relives dark memories while locked in a prison for people with super-human abilities. First Light is available to pre-order for $15 on the PlayStation Store. We thoroughly enjoyed Infamous: Second Son for its "gleefully destructive superheroics" and the high standard it set for PS4 games.
You can preload all your new PS4 games starting next week
One of the roadblocks to really enjoying an all-digital game collection is that it's a lot faster to drive to the store and buy a new PlayStation 4 release at midnight than it is to snag it off of the PSN Store. Sony's been prepping a fix for this for awhile now, but we thought it wouldn't be starting until this fall. That changes today, with a post on the PlayStation Blog stating that any purchases made on or after May 20th this year will take advantage of the games automatically downloading and installing in advance, and the first big title to do so is next week's Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark. Next up after that is the DLC pack for Infamous: Second Son, dubbed First Light, and then holiday season heavy hitters like LittleBigPlanet 3 and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Curiously missing, however, is the remastered version of The Last of Us due out next month. This feature is coming to digital preorders made on the PS3 too, in case you haven't upgraded just yet, too. Pretty handy, right?
Infamous: First Light standalone DLC coming to Second Son in August [Update: trailer]
Infamous: Second Son will be getting standalone DLC in August of this year, Sony announced during its E3 2014 press conference. The DLC will be titled Infamous: First Light and seems to focus on Abigail Walker, a Conduit - see: person with superpowers - who can control neon light. No pricing or further details were shared at the time of announcement.
Joystiq Weekly: VR walker Omni, Hitman Go review, Mario Golf's season pass and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. Okay, we have to admit that the Omni, a motion-tracking platform that associates real-life walking with in-game movement, is kind of ridiculous, right? Yeah, we do and we will - as long as we can also acknowledge how interesting the concept is. Sprinting in reality to hurry down a virtual hallway probably won't be as quick as strafing with arrow keys, but the tradeoff sounds worthwhile. Pairing Omni with the Oculus Rift would bring us closer to the hectic deathmatch action of games like Halo 4, but we could also do rhythmic leaps through stages of Runner 2 or wildly-dangerous imitations of Mirror's Edge's parkour. Hmm ... maybe Omni should be bundled with life insurance. We can ponder the benefits of treadmill controllers together, but if your brain needs a break from all that, there's plenty of gears to switch to after the break. Between a glimpse of the new Ace Attorney game, reviews for NES Remix 2 and Hitman Go, and an exploration of morality systems like those found in the Infamous and Mass Effect series, there's lots to think about beyond how physical our video games could be in a few decades.
The Guilty Pleasures of Infamous: Second Son
Searching for the subtleties in a superhero game is like straining your ears to find the bright ting of a triangle buried somewhere in a bombastic marching band. It adds a pleasant touch of finesse, even if you're just there to feel the drums pushing you back. Infamous: Second Son has its own little triangle in the unfettered actions of Delsin Rowe, a one-man superband imbued with corrosive powers of smoke, ember and neon. He's essentially a weaponized e-cigarette, lobbing vaporous projectiles and rocketing through Seattle's rooftop vents like a wispy snake. It's almost exactly as fun as it sounds, thanks to rapid movement tuned to the environment's ups and downs. That relentless pursuit of locomotion and non-stop enjoyment, however, may be the one thing that prevents Infamous from growing into something more. Putting flash and excitement first is a perfectly valid decision from the developers at Sucker Punch, and most reviews will argue that it's a great one. It's not entirely compatible with the game's tests of morality, though, and I'm not convinced it ever will be.
Infamous: Second Son patch adds Photo Mode, subtracts bugs
Infamous: Second Son lead Delsin Rowe might be able to shoot burst of smoke from his hands and run up walls as a streak of light, but he's not perfect. Hence, developer Sucker Punch has outlined plans for a patch that it hopes to release as soon as April 17. The highlight of the patch is the addition of "Photo Mode," a new feature designed to make it even easier to capture screenshots of virtual Seattle. Once the patch is installed, players will find a toggle for Photo Mode within the Infamous: Second Son options menu. As long as the option is enabled, players can click the L3 button (that is, the left analog stick) to enter Photo Mode which superficially functions like the PlayStation 4's built-in screenshot capture mechanism, but offers expanded photo editing options, such as adjustable depth of field. For more, see the above video, which Sucker Punch describes as a Photo Mode tutorial. Additionally, the patch squashes a few game-crashing bugs, automatically pauses Infamous: Second Son if a controller runs out of juice and adds a clear notification of whether or not players are eligible for the "Unstoppable" trophy, which is earned by beating the game on Expert difficulty. [Image: Sony]
PlayStation 4 sales exceed 7 million so far
Sales of Sony's PlayStation 4 have exceeded 7 million worldwide, the manufacturer announced today. Games are going along with them, according to internal estimates from Sony Computer Entertainment, selling to the tune of over 20.5 million copies as of early April. This figure includes retail sales in addition to those made online. Major releases on PlayStation 4 ($399.99) and its competitor, Xbox One ($499.99), are still sporadic, roughly six months after their November launches. However, both are beefing up their portfolios with independent games, and both are coming off well-received flagships: Titanfall and Infamous: Second Son. The PlayStation 4 is also pursuing a virtual reality component in Project Morpheus, while Microsoft is lining up Xbox One with the likes of Steven Spielberg in its television spinoff, Xbox Entertainment Studios. [Image: Sony]
Infamous: Second Son updates due out in two weeks, tentatively
Sucker Punch Productions has a few updates due out "in the weeks to come" for Infamous: Second Son, including an option to change the time of day, studio co-founder Brian Fleming writes on the PlayStation Blog. Infamous: Second Son has rich day, evening and night environments, as we discussed in the Super Joystiq Podcast last week, and soon players will be able to change the position of the sun and moon at will. The option to alter time will appear in the options menu after beating the game. Also on the update list: An option to turn the HUD off, and the ability to cap the frame rate at 30FPS. "Time-wise, the earliest we could have the patch and new features ready is about two weeks from now, so stay tuned for another update - we'll let you know as soon as they're ready to go live," Fleming writes. [Image: Sony]
Infamous: Second Son tops UK charts for second week, Reaper of Souls debuts 6th
After a month that saw more new releases than a bunny park, the last UK charts of March are an altogether quieter affair. The top three are unchanged, with Infamous: Second Son on top for a second week ahead of Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes and Titanfall. That's not to say there aren't any new releases this week, but only one of them makes it to the top ten. The "Reaper of Souls" expansion for Diablo 3 leveled all the way up to 6th, but Level-5/Capcom crossover Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright and motorbike racer MXGP are a bit behind in 15th and 19th respectively. [Image: Sony Computer Entertainment]
Joystiq Streams Special: Infamous: Second Son, new powers, and you [It's over!]
Hello, young conduit! With Infamous: Second Son out now, you may be noticing some changes in your body. Hair may sprout from unexpected places, your voice may change, and you may suddenly find yourself draining the fluorescence out of neon lights and shooting it at masked aggressors. Joystiq Streams wants to assure you that all of these changes are natural. Every young hero is confused when they suddenly turn into a terrifying smoke cloud. Just remember, you're not alone! Join Joystiq Streams as we explore these confusing changes together on the Joystiq Twitch channel at 4PM EST. Anthony John Agnello, who has never played Infamous: Second Son, will dive into the game. Susan Arendt will be joining him in the chat, feeding your questions to him as the game unfolds. Let's discover our hero selves together, shall we? Joystiq Streams regularly broadcasts at 4PM EST every Tuesday and Thursday on the Joystiq Twitch channel. [Images: Sony Computer Entertainment]
Report: PS4 UK sales jump 106 percent after Infamous: Second Son
Sucker Punch's open-world action game, Infamous: Second Son, contributed to a 106 percent increase in PlayStation 4 hardware sales in the UK this week, MCV reports. Second Son claimed top honors in the GfK Chart-Track UK software sales rankings earlier today, beating out high-profile recent releases like Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes and Dark Souls 2. Titanfall's recent release triggered a similar sales spike for the Xbox One last week, leading to a 96 percent boost in UK sales for Microsoft's console. [Image: Sucker Punch]
Joystiq Weekly: GDC 2014, Infamous, Metal Gear Solid and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. We saw many great games and met with many great people during this year's Game Developers Conference in sunny San Francisco. Or did we? One of the biggest announcements of the show was undoubtedly Project Morpheus, the upcoming virtual reality headset from Sony, and during our hands-on demo, we felt pretty darn virtual. So now the question is: What if we didn't really attend GDC 2014? What if it was all virtual reality? Whoa, dude. Sony also gained news traction this week thanks to the release of PS4-exclusive, Infamous: Second Son. Meanwhile, Snake/Jack Bauer has come out of retirement (again) to save the world in Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes, and a new cyborg ninja came to town with the release of Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z. You can read all about these games and more of the week's biggest and best after the break. [Image: Joystiq]
Infamous: Second Son ships with major day-one patch
Sucker Punch's PlayStation 4-exclusive action game Infamous: Second Son will serve up a day-one patch when players pop the disc in for the first time, bolstering the game's simulated Seattle with a number of added features and balance tweaks. Second Son's post-release patch introduces support for the Cole's Legacy pre-order content pack and the ARG-like Paper Trail missions, which add an estimated five hours of campaign playtime over six weeks of planned content updates. Paper Trail challenges players to seek out clues released online to continue a 19-mission side-story within Second Son that supplements the core campaign. Version 1.01 of Second Son also tweaks in-game difficulty, making Normal mode slightly more challenging while fine-tuning boss fights and pedestrian behavior. After applying the patch, players who complete Second Son's campaign will also have new post-game content available in the form of expanded Karma progression and continued enemy presence. The patch was available for Joystiq's review of Second Son, ensuring that the version we played offers the same experience players will see at launch. [Image: Sony]
Daily Roundup: 2013 Engadget Readers' Choice Awards, NSA transparency reports and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
