PS3 News

Playstation Unveils New “Long Live Play” Program; Marks Return of Kevin Butler

This morning on the Playstation blog, a new advertising
campaign was announced that hopes to capture gamers of all walks of life. The
“Long Live Play” campaign marks the return of the fan-favorite Kevin Butler
character to the Playstation Network. 
His other two campaigns (“Dear Playstation” and “It Only Does
Everything”) were wildly popular and made it possible to have the PS3 available
in 50 million homes worldwide. 

Until this point, the PS3 had a niche audience, so the
unveiling of this program is most likely to capture the casual market that has
until this point been largely on the Wii and Xbox 360.  Now that the system has dropped to
$249.99 for a 160 GB product, it seems like Playstation is trying to end strong
and have a nice transition to the next generation of systems, whenever they may
be coming. 

Resistance Back in 3D TV Package

People who want a cheap, decently sized 3D TV can now get a new copy of
Resistance 3 for free in the deal, but there’s a catch. They have to
pre-order the TV before the end of September.

Uncharted 3’s Collector’s Edition Unboxed

The
PlayStation Blog posted a video today featuring Nolan North.  If you
aren’t aware of who Nolan North is, he voices Nathan Drake, the star of
the Uncharted series and practically every other video game
protagonist.  Okay, that’s a joke, but it’s not that far off from the
truth either.  Anyway, I’m sure you are wondering what they were up
to…  Well, it seems they were able to get their hands on a copy of the
collector’s edition of Uncharted 3.  The video shows Nolan unboxing the Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Collector’s Edition as he walks the viewer through all the bonus
content, and there is quite a bit.  The collector’s edition will be
available on November 1st and will retail for $99.99(US).

Check out the video here.

More GoldenEye 007: Reloaded Details Revealed

Activision was nice enough to have a pre-PAX media event and they showed off a few games, including GoldenEye 007: Reloaded.
If you think this game is just going to be another port of the original
game developed by Rare for N64, you’re wrong. It’s not the same game;
it’s not even the same Bond. The story was rewritten and the old
characters have been replaced by the cast and crew of the new Bond
movies. That’s right – it is the Daniel Craig Bond, not Pierce Brosnan.

Big Fall Update Coming for PlayStation Home

I have never used the Home service network on my
PlayStation 3, but from what I’ve learned, I’m really not missing much. However, with
apparently 23 million people using the service to date, it’s not surprising
that Sony continues to support the thing.

Coming to Home this fall is a giant update including a complete
remodeling and
redesign of the main hub of the interactive social feature and a much
larger
focus on games. Four new districts will be added, all themed around
specific
game genres. The other new big feature is a teleportation system that
will make moving people’s digital avatars around much easier and faster.
Sony intends to not simply remodel the main hub for the ease of use
alone, but they also intend to make partaking in the new shift towards
more gaming centric elements
easier. A quest system will be included in making Home itself much
more of a game, including simple solo quests and long branching path
chained
quests, similar to how MMOs are typically structured.   

Twisted Metal Release Date Confirmed

David Jaffe confirmed the firm release date for Twisted Metal is February 14, Valentine’s Day, 2012.

On the official
PlayStation Blog Jaffe posted a “romantic” video
announcing the new date for the game’s release along with a tease about an
upcoming trailer featuring the titles of another faction leader (with the first
being the iconic Sweet Tooth) named Dollface.  Twisted Metal was originally
set to release this year but was pushed to 2012 for the
usual game development reasons.  It is nice to know that the game has an official release date.

Kim Swift’s New Game Revealed this Weekend

It was a bit of a surprise a couple years ago when it was announced that
Kim Swift had left Valve Software to join Airtight Games, the studio
that made Dark Void. Square Enix have announced that the fruits of her new labor will finally be revealed this weekend.

PS3’s Price Drops to $250

For several months now a rumor had been circulating that
the PlayStation 3 would get a price cut in August.  Sure enough, you can now pick up a 160 GB model PS3
for a cool $250 US.  In 2007, I bought my 40 GB PS3 for a
whopping $700 AUS and that was discounted from $1000 AUS. I’m glad I bought mine when I did because  I’ve had amazing experiences
with my PS3. I kept telling my friend to wait until August, but he didn’t listen and paid a higher price. 

Blizzard Wants Diablo 3 on Consoles

In a revelation neither new nor shocking, Blizzard – although not officially announcing – is very determined to bring Diablo 3 to console platforms.

It will be amazing if the game releases for PC this year. I predict an early 2012 release, however, perhaps between April and June. It’s nice to know that people who prefer gaming on a console will someday get a chance to experience this undoubtedly amazing looking game from the biggest maker of PC titles.

Sony Announces New PSP… Wait, What?

Gamescom
has had some very exciting announcements this year.  Sony brought their
PlayStation Vitas with them and showed off a lot of the titles in
development.  Games like Resistance: Burning Skies, Little Big Planet and Escape Plan
were available, hands-on, to the press.  A lot of the previews are very
positive, but I know what you’re thinking: “Sure the Vita news is great
and Uncharted looks amazing, but what about the PSP?”  Am I
right?  Well hot on the heels of all the new PlayStation Vita games and
the confirmation that RAM will not be cut, Sony announced a new PSP
model is on its way.