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Unreal Tournament 3 receives new free maps today
Unreal Tournament 3 isn't just receiving a patch today, but it's also getting three new maps for free (yum!). The maps will be available for PC and PS3 (as soon as the PSN update happens this afternoon). This free content update is very much in line with Epic's business philosophy, despite what we've seen regarding Gears of War DLC on Xbox 360.The three new UT3 arenas are named: Morbias, Facing Worlds and Searchlight. Morbias is the deathmatch arena that "started it all," Facing Worlds is another classic map for snipers and Searchlight is a capture the flag map. Go get 'em fragmasters!
Sony issues consumer alert: PC PSN illegally accessed
Sony has issued a consumer alert stating that the PC version of the PlayStation Store may have been accessed illegally. Sony said that a small percentage of user passwords may have been changed through the unauthorized access, making it possible for the hackers to view personal information. The company wants to ensure consumers that Sony is taking "immediate measures to rectify this issue and [making sure that] system security is restored."It is very likely this is just a small incident; however, it is a smart idea to stay cautious. To verify that your account is intact, sign into the PSN with your pre-set password. If you are successful, then your account is not affected by the incident. Currently, Sony is contacting customers who may have been affected. You can find more information about that at Sony's Knowledge Center. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
PSN accounts possibly compromised, 'small percentage' affected
Sony has dropped details of a possible security breach in the PC PlayStation Store, whereby a "small percentage" of PSN user accounts could have been compromised. A consumer alert on PlayStation.com assures account owners their credit card numbers are likely safe, but their passwords might be changed. In addition, unauthorized access may permit an intruder to use the PS Store 'Wallet' and view any stored personal information.While Sony claims that "system security is restored" and all potential victims are being directly contacted, the alert does "strongly suggest" that you sign into the PSN service and verify that you still have access to your account ... You still do, don't you? Muwhahaha!
'Linger in Shadows' video hints at PS3 project
Much like its title suggests, meaningful information regarding the above video seems to be loitering in all the dark corners of the internet, unwilling to step forward and reveal itself. From what we've been able to piece together, "Linger in Shadows" is a "demoscene," an artistic video generated by one of those "computer" things the kids are so addicted to these days. In this case, the computer is allegedly a PlayStation 3, with the beautiful imagery having recently been rendered and displayed at Breakpoint 2008, a demoscene party held in Germany. It is reportedly the product of demoscene group named "Plastic." Rumors label it as more than just a demo, however, with onAXIS pointing towards a "Linger in Shadows" trademark nabbed by Sony in November 2007. Couple that with the Santa Monica Studios logo displayed at the video's start and you have plenty of net denizens anticipating a visually arresting game which has you controlling a trail of black smoke. Or a flying dog. Whether it's a game, a screen saver or just a bit of art is for Sony to say, but it's certainly managed to intrigue us. Even more so than Lingerie in Shadows, the other, considerably more dubious video that turned up in our research. [Via PS3 Fanboy. Thanks, Mauricio]
Linger in Shadows: beautiful, mysterious new PS3 game
What is Linger in Shadows? To be honest, we have absolutely no idea. This new real-time video showcases some stunning footage which raises many questions, and offers almost no answers. SCEA's Santa Monica studios is known for greenlighting some truly unique (Everyday Shooter) and epic (God of War) games. From this very first look, Linger in Shadows looks to satisfy both qualities. We can't wait to find out more. [Thanks, Joe!]
Europe gets the shard with Warhawk 'Broken Mirror' expansion in April
Details about Warhawk's expansion Operation: Broken Mirror have emerged on Sony's European blog Three Speech. O:BM adds a new level called Vaporfield Glacier, along with an armored personnel carrier. The APC can transport six players and generate a forcefield to protect its precious contents. The pack will cost £3.99 (no Euros price offered) and will be available in "early April."We've contacted Sony America to find out if this expansion has an April timetable for release in North America and how much it'll cost in America bucks. Of course, we'll update if we get any intel. In the meantime, enjoy the extensive O:BM gallery below.[Via PS3 Fanboy] Gallery: Warhawk: Operation Broken Mirror
Six PS1 games hit Japanese PSN
Several PS1 games have hit the Japanese PSN today. Six in total, actually. One of them was the previously announced Metal Gear Solid. It's a pretty diverse set of games, here's the full list: Atelier Elie Crash Bash (aka Crash Bandicoot Carnival) Dezaemon Kids! Master of Monsters: Disciples of Gaia Metal Gear Solid Pro Mahjong Kiwame Plus II That makes: one tactical espionage thriller in MGS, one RPG in Atelier Elie, a strategy adventure in Master of Monsters, Mahjong Plus II speaks for itself, Crash Bash is a party game, and Dezaemon Kids! is some sort of art title for children. Pretty nice list; however, MGS is top dog this week.
Rock Band Store launches, is awesome
The much-improved Rock Band store announced to the world yesterday is now available on Xbox Live and PSN. A 30-second download and installation gives players access to the streamlined song-buying interface, which features audio previews and individual instrument difficulties for each song, as well as a much simpler way to sort and browse through the growing selection of music.Besides the cool new store, we're also extremely gratified by the much-needed faster loading of DLC provided by the patch. After a one-time file creation upon the first post-patch load, the annoying little "loading additional content" animation was reduced from roughly ten seconds to about one second in our tests on Xbox Live. The physical "download data file" that actually speeds up the process takes up a paltry 112KB on our system, meaning there's no reason not to rock out faster!%Gallery-18743%
PSN Thursday: Um, well, next week could be better?
Pour yourself a glass of wine, draw a bath, sprinkle some rose petals in there, a little sandalwood bath oil, grab Rendezvous with Rama ... and that experience alone will be more exciting than the PSN offerings this week. There's a Condemned 2 demo in there, that Motorstorm trailer, and the Rock Band DLC per usual, but that's about it. Sorry, there's also some Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 08 courses we all know dad's been dying to play. Maybe next week will be better?Check out the complete list of this week's content after the break. To feel Europe's PAIN, head on over to PS3 Fanboy.
UT3 PS3 patch coming March 27
Remember when buying a console game meant living with whatever bugs and gameplay glitches got inadvertently shipped with the game? Well, the folks at Epic want you to forget all about those days with a patch for the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament coming down the PSN pike on March 27.The fixes included in the free, downloadable patch include support for character mods, an easier method for downloading mods from the web browser, and basically a lot of other stuff related to mods (in addition to some other incidental tech fixes). The patch will also bring the European and U.S. editions of the game into alignment, allowing for online matches across the Atlantic. A nice feature, but we hope all that data going across the transatlantic cables doesn't cause too much lag.Check out the full list of bug fixes after the break.
Pandemonium and Blood Omen rated by ESRB for PSN
With all of the retro games being released on PSN, XBLA and the Virtual Console, it takes a lot for crusty old games to get us excited anymore. But that's exactly what's happening today with the news that Pandemonium and Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain have been rated for the PlayStation Network by the ESRB.While you could be forgiven for not knowing Pandemonium, a cool 2.5-dimensional platformer, you don't want to miss Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain if you've managed to for the past decade. It's not only the start of the usually excellent Legacy of Kain series but one of the most quotable games ever. Speaking of which: Vae victus!
Smedley: PS3 has "massive advantage over PC" for MMOs
GameDaily landed an interview with SOE president John Smedley in the wake of the recent corporate shuffle that moved SOE into the PlayStation family. Smedley said a lot more this time than he did when he spoke with WarCry last week. He commented on the departure of Sony Pictures head honcho Yair Landau, saying that it's only a coincidence that the SOE move happened at the same time. He also suggested that the move is a bit like "coming home," since EverQuest was originally developed under SCEA's banner.Most interestingly, though, he said that while SOE is committed to multi-platform releases (read: PC and PS3), he believes the PS3 has a "massive advantage" over the PC for developers and publishers of MMOs. This is because because the system is "a stable platform where every customer has an online box ... and we don't have to worry about graphics cards or anything like that." That this is an advantage is true; that's why a lot of the recent growth in the industry is in web-based games that will run on any hardware (like Sherwood). But it'll be interesting to see how The Agency and the DC Comics MMO do on the PS3.[Via PS3 Fanboy]
New PS3 firmware to add Blu-ray Profile 2.0 support
Sony has announced that an upcoming PlayStation 3 firmware update will enhance the system's Blu-ray playback capabilities. Tucked into firmware update 2.20 will be support for Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0, otherwise labeled as BD-Live. The feature enables certain Blu-ray movies to connect to the internet and enable download additional interactive content -- movie DLC, if you will. Sony notes that the update will make the PlayStation 3 the first BD-Live Blu-ray player on the market. Oh, sorry, the PLAYSTATION 3.Other enhancements included in firmware 2.20: Music and photo playlists can be exported from the PS3 to the PSP. DivX and WMV files larger than 2GB can be played. DVDs and Blu-rays will resume playback from the moment you last stopped them. The PSP can be used as a remote control to play music on the PS3. The web browser will feature faster page loading times and the ability to save linked files and stream linked videos. "Mosquito Noise Reduction" will be added to the AV control panel for Blu-rays and DVDs. The update will make its way onto the PlayStation Network "in the next few days."
European PSN forums still up; PSN linking delayed a month
The official European PlayStation forums are supposed to be down right now, in order for them to be linked together with the PlayStation Network. Unfortunately it seems this has been delayed until late April. This is in order to "get everything ship-shape" and improve the look and feel of the service. Strange, then, that this is announced the day the forums are meant to go down. They didn't know there was another month of work to do until now? There's still no word on what exactly the reason is for the whole PSN forum linkage. Not even our Sony contact knows what's going on, so we may as well forget about it for another month or so. If you're a member of the official European forums, however, this means you've got a much longer time to link your profile to your PSN. Check the forum post for instructions.
Original Metal Gear Solid coming to PSN in Japan
Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection might gather Solid Snake's escapades all in one place, but it's still a pain for players to get the PS1 original Metal Gear Solid to play nice on the Playstation 3. Luckily, Konami's making it a tad easier to experience Snake's classic adventure, with the game coming out on the Playstation Network in Japan March 21.For 600 yen, Japanese gamers will be able to play the original Metal Gear Solid on both their PS3 and PSP, no doubt in preparation for Metal Gear Solid 4. No word yet if MGS1 will make its way to the other territories, but we'll certainly keep our fingers crossed.[Via PSP Fanboy]
Bionic Commando Rearmed pricing, platforms, specs revealed
Some cold hard details about the gorgeous 2D-style Bionic Commando Rearmed are finally coming our way, courtesy of the official site. The title is scheduled for release in May on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network for $10 USD, and will also release on PC for an undetermined price. According to the official site, the XBLA version of Rearmed will retail for 800 MSP, while the PSN version will sell for $10 USD. The price-point of the PC version has not yet been determined, as it may include additional content not available in the other versions. No matter the price, the PC version will be sold over several digital distribution outlets, and will require either Windows XP or Vista, and at least 512 MB RAM, and 650 MB hard drive space. More minimum and recommended specs can be found after the break. %Gallery-14181%
Sony comments on leaked PSN release list
We always try to tread carefully when too-good-to-be-true game release schedules, like the recently leaked PSN list, start to appear on the internet. On the one hand, we want to get you this potentially juicy information as quickly as possible. On the other hand, these leaks are often based on sketchy information that can end up being highly variable and misleading to the average reader.Sure enough, that's basically what Sony said by way of addressing the leaked list. In a statement reprinted by Eurogamer, the company teasingly tells us that listed content like "Ratchet: Quest for Booty" and "Dark Mist" "may be working titles or placeholders subject to later confirmation." Similarly, dates for everything from Super Stardust DLC to Home are officially "not confirmed until issued as part of a press release or formal announcement." So, to summarize, while the list itself is probably authentic, the information contained within it should be considered "subject to change" at best.
Rumor: European PSN release calendar leaked onto the net
We've seen these roadmaps before, haven't we? The ones we've come across in the past seem little more than virtual post-it notes written down by SCEE staff, detailing all the content they would like to get out to the public within the next few months. Unfortunately, it never seems to go that way, does it? Case in point: compare these two lists from yesteryear. One of which was "leaked" and one of which was posted on ThreeSpeech. Not only do they both list the same games coming out in different months, but some titles haven't even been released yet. So, you'll understand our skepticism at the latest "leaked EU PSN release schedule."The list, which can be seen after the break, starts off well enough with PAIN and Gran Turismo 5: Prologue being released in the next couple of weeks, as we know to be true. As for the rest, we'll be very intrigued to see how closely the PSN updates resemble this list in the following weeks. Home being listed under July means diddly-squat until Sony confirms it. We're going to save some time (and our poor Sony contacts' inbox) by pretending we contacted them for a statement. Here it is: "Sony does not comment on rumour of speculation." We hope you feel enlightened. The most interesting part of lists like this are unannounced games. There are a few to be seen, but the one that catches our eye the most has to be Ratchet: Quest for Booty. A perfectly Insomniac-crafted title if ever we heard one. We're reminded of the number that popped up in the Insomniac recruitment video - 0708. Not, as we believed, referring to a demo for Resistance 2 but, perhaps instead, a release date for a smaller PSN title in the Ratchet and Clank universe. It all seems to fit together. If we hear anything more, we'll let you know.
Today's most artistic PSN commercial
Does the PSN really need a commercial? Probably not. But it appears that someone has tried. A new (potentially un-used) commercial by Terry Hall and The Love Commercial Production Company highlights the community features of the Network in a mellow, artistic spot.[Thanks, Nymo! Via Motionographer.]
Killzone.com gets linked to your PSN ID
Remember that game, Killzone? Yeah, apparently PS3 fans think it's some sort of "big deal." The unsurprisingly named official site of the game, Killzone.com is being updated, and will integrate with your PSN ID. The latest update states: "Killzone.com is currently undergoing important changes behind the scenes. We're joining forces with the PLAYSTATION®Network to offer you new and exciting functionality. To take full advantage of future upgrades to the website, and to preserve your current profile, please link your Killzone.com account to your PLAYSTATION®Network account."While it's unclear what kind of enhancements are being made to the Killzone.com online experience, we're excited to see the PSN ID become more ubiquitous. SCEE also recently announced that its forums will integrate with the PSN. Clearly, we can expect something significant to happen in the coming weeks.[Thanks, grief!]
