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Vita looking for someone to share in Europe's Adventure bundles
Did you follow the Adventure Line all the way to the end, Stanley? Did you? Because if you had, we wouldn't be stuck here telling you about the new Vita Adventure Mega Pack that's coming to Europe this fall, now would we? You silly goose. Anyway, it bundles in voucher codes for five games including Uncharted: Golden Abyss, TxK, Tearway, Gravity Rush and Escape Plan. It also chucks in a 8GB memory card for good measure, and wraps up the lot in a 40 euro bow - that's normally the cost of a single new Vita game, Stanley. There's a new 200 euro Vita bundle that includes the handheld too. So onwards, Stanley! To destiny! [Image: Sony]
Uncharted Vita postmortem details Sony Bend's struggles with writing a female lead
Writer and Director John Garvin of Sony Bend recently discussed the development of Uncharted: Golden Abyss in a postmortem on Gamasutra. One of the topics covered by Garvin was the distaste focus testers had for the game's lead female character, Marisa Chase."The problem, we discovered, was the writing. In the script, Chase's character was a bit of a smart ass and a little sarcastic," Garvin wrote. The focus group determined that Chase was a "wimp," and that her character upheld a number of gender stereotypes."For gameplay reasons, we constantly put Chase into situations where Drake needed to take action. Call it lazy if you want, but we ended up with a few 'Princess Peach' scenarios," Garvin said. "It seemed that poor Chase was constantly being choked, shot at, knocked out, dragged around and kidnapped. We fixed that, as well as we could, by changing the scenarios to make Chase less of a victim."In the second round of focus testing, Garvin was prompted to consider another change to the character. "What's that old adage? If a man acts forceful he's 'take-charge and aggressive, a real leader' but if a woman acts that way, she's being 'pushy and a bitch' -- an unfair gender stereotype, but one we had to deal with," he wrote. "How? By making her less aggressive and critical."The rest of the postmortem on Uncharted: Golden Abyss is an interesting read, and includes notes about the game's environments and how further focus testing impacted its story and ending.
Uncharted is a 'pillar franchise,' nothing to say about its future just yet
"This show is about Naughty Dog and The Last of Us. So we're not talking about Uncharted for the future," Sony VP of product development and worldwide studios Scott Rohde told Joystiq in an interview this week. That doesn't mean there aren't things happening with the Uncharted franchise elsewhere at Sony, of course. "It's a Sony IP, but it's just not something we're talking about. Of course it's one of our pillar franchises," Rohde said.The latest entry in the Uncharted franchise was the Vita's Uncharted: Golden Abyss – the series' first title not developed by Naughty Dog. Its production was instead handled by Sony's internal Bend studio, with Naughty Dog overseeing development. Rohde added that "it'd be ridiculous to say that we're not always thinking about [Uncharted], but we're just not talking about it right now."
Vita sales hit 1.2 million worldwide, software surpasses 2 million units
Sony announced this morning that sales of the PlayStation Vita have reached 1.2 million globally, boosted by the recent launch in Americas, Europe and PAL territories. According to the company, sales of the hardware have "exceeded expectations," with software sales for the new handheld surpassing 2 million units."The market has responded and there is clear demand for a mobile device capable of providing a revolutionary combination of rich gaming and social connectivity within a real world context," said Sony Computer Entertainment prez Andrew House. "To sustain momentum, we're working closely with third party developers and publishers to ensure the best games and franchises possible will be available on PS Vita, and our software line up for the remainder of 2012 will have something for everyone across the globe."Check out our updated launch guide for the latest on the system.
Vita launch pushes software in UK, Syndicate debuts in top ten
The Vita's launch in the UK saw 23 games hit the shelves for the handheld, but only two titles accounted for 50 percent of sales. Uncharted: Golden Abyss was at the top of the Chart-Track UK charts this past week, representing 31 percent of week one Vita software sales. FIFA Football took second with 18 percent of first week sales.Syndicate was the biggest non-Vita launch of the week, hacking into the charts in seventh place. Mistwalker's The Last Story premiered at number 15; it was announced last week the game will make its way to North America this summer.Check out the UK top ten after the break.
Tretton hoping for half-million PS Vita sales in first three weeks of US launch
Sony's backing the Vita's US launch with a $50 million marketing campaign. The company is, as you would expect, bullish on the system's future here, with CEO Jack Tretton estimating a big impact in terms of launch window sales.Speaking with Reuters, Tretton said he would "be very pleased" if the PlayStation Vita moved half a million units in the United States in the next three weeks. Even though the Vita moved 321,000 units in its first two days on sale, it took over a month for the Vita to hit 500,000 in Japan. The cheaper PSP is still popular in that region and moves thousands of units each week. North America, however, is a much larger market.Instead, launch sales of the PSP in the US may be more indicative of what the PS Vita will do. The PSP launched here on March 24, 2005, for $249 and sold 500,000 in its first two days.
Uncharted: Golden Abyss TV spot runs for its life
We don't think Uncharted: Golden Abyss is quite this immersive, but you get the idea.
Uncharted Golden Abyss review: Grave rubber
Presenting Uncharted: Golden Abyss as one of Nathan Drake's earlier adventures is a masterstroke. For one thing, it explains why people are still hiring him to hunt down relics. At this point, they just haven't heard of the handsome, half-tucked grave robber who breaks everything he climbs across, shoots everyone he sees, and goes through an awful lot of trouble for treasure that's invariably cursed, deadly or not really treasure at all.But we're not interested in the chest full of MacGuffins at the end. We're in it for the hero's hazardous journey over crumbling handholds and vertiginous chasms. We like to see an ancient civilization lurch back into life with the aid of an unbelievably convoluted, one-use mechanism. And we want to spot that spark between the characters who get themselves into one mess after another, and yet another. If that's what Uncharted is to you, then you'll find very little has been lost in the transition to PlayStation Vita.
First-party Vita games now available at GameStop
Not only can you download Vita games early, you can buy boxed copies of first-party titles early as well. GameStop currently has copies of Little Deviants, Uncharted, Hot Shots, Wipeout 2048, and ModNation Racers in stock online right now. They ship within 24 hours, the site notes, or you can use the site to check for stock at your local store.The Vita hardware will officially be available February 15 in the First Edition bundle, but it's possible you already have a Japanese unit, in which case you should be able to play these cartridges.
Some Vita games already available through PS3 in US
You'll have to search for them, but you can download five PlayStation Vita games through the PS3's PlayStation Store. The selection of early, hidden releases includes Uncharted: Golden Abyss (which is not discounted at all at $49.99), Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational for $35.99, Wipeout 2048 for $35.99, ModNation Racers Road Trip for $26.99, and the PSN-only Super Stardust Delta for $9.99.Sure, you probably don't have a Vita yet, but don't let that stop you from building up a library. Then, when the system does arrive (or if you have one right now!) you can use the Content Manager Assistant to transfer the games to that huge memory card you'd better buy.
Playable Vita demo units now at Gamestop
If you're just dying to get your hot little hands on a PlayStation Vita, you may want to hit up your local GameStop. Keep in mind that said unit will be securely bolted down, because its a demo unit, of course!The retailer has announced that it now has demo units at over 3,300 of it's locations, allowing customers to try out several games, including Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Little Deviants, Modnation Racers: Road Trip, WipeOut: 2048 and more.Just remember: Wash your hands. It's flu season, after all.
PS Vita game downloads cheaper than boxed copies in US
Sony is offering a discount for game-starved shut-ins with PlayStation Vitas, Shacknews has confirmed. It shouldn't come as a surprise, since Sony has been talking about doing such a thing for months now, and has followed a similar pricing scheme -- favoring downloads -- in Japan.There's no exact indication of how much you'll save downloading through PSN compared to purchasing boxed copies, but a NeoGAF thread of supposed Best Buy SKUs suggests it'll be a ten percent discount.
CAG giving away PlayStation Vita bundles in Child's Play raffle
CAG has been propositioning patrons for donations to its Child's Play fundraiser, and the addition of three PlayStation Vita bundles certainly has us eyeing our credit card. There are only 10 days left to donate to CAG if you want the chance to own a Vita without dropping hundreds of extra dollars on Play-Asia. In addition to the PlayStation Vita unit from Japan, CAG is tossing in an 8GB memory card, a PSN card worth ￥5,000, a copy of Uncharted: Golden Abyss ... and Japanese Chicken Pox. We're pretty sure that last one is a joke. At least, we hope it is.
Get in touch with Vita launch titles with ten new trailers
Sony sent out a bunch of trailers for first-party launch Vita games, focusing on the Vita-specific features each game uses. The good news: we see clever combinations of controls here, like Escape Plan's "pinch" of both the front and back touch panels. And Gravity Rush looks really neat regardless of how it's controlled. The bad news: we're not nearly mature enough to see ten references to "front touch" and "rear touch" without giggling. If that's how Sony is going to refer to those features permanently, we're going to have a problem at press events.
Sony bringing 12 first party Vita launch titles to Europe, including Uncharted and Wipeout
Sony kinda has a thing for Europe, as evidenced by today's PlayStation Vita event in London. SCEE worldwide studios SVP Michael Denny took to the stage to reveal the February 22, 2012 first party launch lineup for the PlayStation Vita, which includes titles like Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Wipeout 2048. The list of 12 games adds to the two from Namco we already expected by February 22 -- namely Ridge Racer and Touch My Katamari -- and reveals a cadre of "in development" titles, even outing a couple we'd yet to hear about. Presumably the EU's first party launch lineup isn't far off from North America's, but we'll assuredly find out more definitively in the near future.
Report: These are the Vita games that require a memory card
Some PlayStation Vita games will let you save to the internal memory on the cartridge; others require you to have an external memory card, in a situation reminiscent of the Nintendo 64's confusing "Controller Pak." Kotaku Japan compiled a list of the Japanese launch games and their memory requirements, allowing us to see how common the external memory requirement is. Known launch window games requiring separate memory cards include Ridge Racer, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention, Sega's golf game @Field, Hot Shots Golf 6, the AR title Monster Radar, and the assuredly Japan-only Dream Club Zero Portable. Everything else saves to memory included on the game itself -- with one exception: the status of (sigh) Touch My Katamari is unannounced. That's for the retail versions of these games. Here's the list of games whose PSN versions require you to use an external memory card for save data: All of them
More Vita games priced in Japan, cheaper on PSN than retail
Famitsu revealed the Japanese launch price for the PlayStation Vita's Uncharted: Golden Abyss, offering evidence that Vita games in general will follow the same pricing structure seen with Army Corps of Hell (and with the PSP), in which PSN versions are a bit cheaper than retail. The card version will sell for ¥5,980 ($78), with the downloadable version at ¥4,900 ($64). Namco Bandai will temporarily widen the gap between PSN and retail prices with promotional discounts on the downloadable versions of Ridge Racer and Katamari Damacy no Vita. Katamari is priced at ¥4,980 ($65) in stores and ¥4,480 ($58) on PSN, but will be ¥3,980 ($52) on PSN through March 31. Ridge Racer will be ¥2,980 ($39) on PSN for the same time period, going up to its normal PSN price of ¥3,580 ($47) afterward; retail is set for ¥3,980 ($52).
Sony's Yoshida 'very aware' of how much we hate firmware updates
"I agree, it's very annoying when you only have one hour in your busy life to play a game, and when you have to spend 30 minutes out of that one hour to update the hardware." Shuhei Yoshida gets it. Speaking to Game Informer, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios concurs that both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable have made an intrusive habit out of firmware updates. And though the upcoming Vita "will be fortified" with regards to security, Yoshida hopes that updates will be reduced in footprint, if not in frequency. "So it's not necessarily the frequency of how we update, it's like you said – intrusiveness - of the current processes that we have on PS3 and PSP," says Yoshida. "I cannot talk about specific plans, but we are very aware of the issues, and we'd like to address those issues on PS Vita going forward." In the same interview, Yoshida elaborates on other lessons learned from the PSP's lifespan. Consistent, post-launch software support is crucial, he says, as is more distinct separation between portable games with console-level production values, and regular PlayStation 3 titles. "We had many products on PSP, but most of these games like God of War [Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta] came from the console. Basically, you can play a bigger, better version of these titles on PS3." Yoshida says Vita games must leverage traits unique to the portable system, so as not to simply reproduce franchises (including Uncharted and Resistance) that can be found in superior format on console. So, are touchscreen and tilt controls really enough to distinguish a game like Golden Abyss? Sony knows this is the kind of game you like to play; it just needs to convince you that it's the kind you also want to play on the Vita.
Take a run through the enflamed Uncharted: Golden Abyss TGS demo
Whether you're curious about how the Vita's inputs will be utilized in Uncharted: Golden Abyss, or wondering what perilous malarkey protagonist Nathan Drake will get into this time around, the TGS demo walkthrough video posted above should satisfy your curiosity.
PlayStation Vita media roundup: New trailers for Uncharted: Golden Abyss and 11 others
Sony always makes a big splash at Gamescom and this year is no exception. In addition to a newer, cheaper PSP and a cheaper, if not newer, PS3, Sony is also ready with plenty of PlayStation Vita materials. You want a dozen trailers showing off what the device is capable of? After the break you'll find video of everything from Uncharted: Golden Abyss to LittleBigPlanet Vita to augmented reality app Tag. We've also got some screens for the newly titled Resistance: Burning Skies and the newly announced Smart As.
