PS3 News

Ken Levine Reveals BioShock Infinite to Contain Move Support; New Vita-Based BioShock

Ken
Levine made an appearance at Sony’s E3 press conference in support of
BioShock. Along with presenting a new trailer for Infinite, Levine
also discussed a feature that will of course be exclusive to the PS3
version of the game. After joking around a little over the relevance
of motion controls, Levine revealed that BioShock Infinite will in
fact support Sony’s Move Controller. It was never made clear exactly
how the motion controls would be integrated into
Infinite, but Levine made sure to stress the fact that it would have
no effect on the ‘core’ way to play the game.

Ico/Shadow Date and New Details

It’s no surprise that we enjoy HD remakes of popular games, and the biggest one is yet to come. The Ico/Shadow of the Colossus remake has finally been announced and dated for this fall in Japan – and there is even some news for those of us that are state side. The HD collection is being handled by Bluepoint Games, the same developer that did the God of War Collection and that are currently working on the Metal Gear Solid Collection. The games will, of course, offer the standard trophies for both games, and they will also both offer the option of being in 3D as well as HD. 

As for Japan, they’ve got a different deal from their US counterparts; and maybe a less lucky one. While they will have the games by this fall, they will be getting them in parts, with a 100 page book with art from the games included. Both games with the book will be for $87 (¥6,980), or you can get them separately for $50 (¥3980) apiece. While you should not have to worry about paying that much in the US, do not expect any sweet art book outside of a pre-order bonus from a vendor like GameStop or Amazon.

Ubisoft Announce Brothers in Arms Furious 4

Ubisoft has announced they will be releasing a new game in
the Brothers in Arms series by developer Gearbox which is set to take the series
in a completely new direction.

Brothers in Arms Furious 4 is a gleefully overdone FPS set in World War
II and follows four men who are trying to reach and assassinate Hitler.
Players have special weapons and unusual individual combat abilities, all to fight a secret experimental Nazi army. The four main characters
are a Texan called Crockett who carries a cattle brand, a man called Stitch who
has an electric torture device, an Indian named Chok with a tomahawk, and man known as Montana who has a
chainsaw. The game contains a campaign mode playable with four players in co-op,
and an extensive multiplayer mode.

Ubisoft Shows Assassin’s Creed: Revelations at E3

Although the
game has been known about for a few weeks now, Ubisoft gave us more information
and an extended trailer for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations during their E3
Press Conference. We are told the fourth game in the franchise will be the most immersive experience from the series to
date and will mark the end of Ezio’s adventure. The game is set to arrive
on PS3 and Xbox 360 this November.
 
In
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations Ezio walks in Altaïr’s footsteps on a
journey to Constantinople at the heart of the Ottoman
Empire, where Templars are destabilizing the region. Ubisoft have refined existing elements of gameplay like
the combat and stealth aspects from previous Assassins Creed outings, while
also bringing some new aspects to the game, such as the use of bombs and a zip
line hook. In addition to the single player campaign, the multiplayer returns, with more
modes, more maps and more characters. The game also includes new gameplay
elements “allowing players to manipulate the construct of Desmond’s memories
and the Animus to decipher the mysteries of his past and gain insight into the
future.”

Sony Launches Welcome Back Program

Sony
announced earlier in the week that the PlayStation Network and
Qriocity services would be fully restored in the United States,
Europe, and most of Asia by the end of this week. This, however,
excludes Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea, but the company is excited
to welcome back its customers. The PlayStation Network and Qriocity
online services were fully restored on June 3rd and are now completely
operational. This means that the PlayStation Store is finally open
for business once again and Music Unlimited members can get back to
using their accounts normally. Along with the addition of some great
new content being available for PS3 and PSP, June 3rd also marked the
start of Sony’s “Welcome Back” Program. This offer gives existing
members, those who held PSN accounts before April 20th, the chance to
get their hands on some awesome content—free of charge!

Darksiders 2 Reveal

The original Darksiders was a gaming experience that really
resonated with me, from the art style to the overall design and ambition, it
definitely seemed like a start to a series that will only get bigger and better
as time goes on. As the first game developed by Vigil Games it gave me high
hopes for their future as a developer.  If
the current trend is to be assumed we could indeed be looking at another
three titles in this series, the second of which I am very excited for. Darksiders
2 was recently revealed and the protagonist is none other than the rider of
Death.  

Konami PS2 Classics Get HD Makeovers

Konami
revealed through their pre-E3 press conference yesterday plans to
release three separate HD collections of some of their most revered
games of modern times. Metal Gear, Silent Hill and Zone of the Enders are the franchises receiving the HD makeover and shall all be released between 2011 and 2012.

The earliest of which will be the Metal Gear Solid HD collection, due for release this November. Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 as well as PSP game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker will be included. The original Metal Gear Solid
is omitted from the collection for unknown reasons. All versions will
feature redrawn art, upgraded audio and UI, trophies or achievements
(depending on the system), and “transfarring.”

Activision Announces Call of Duty: Elite

Activision has announced a new title in the Call of Duty franchise called
Call of Duty: Elite, which is being developed by Beachhead Studios. But, unlike
other products in the Call of Duty series, this new title is not a game. Instead
it is essentially a tool to unify a player’s profile across the different Call of
Duty games. Because of the popularity of the Call of Duty series, there are still huge
numbers of people playing the older games, like the first Modern Warfare, as
well as other gamers spending most of their time on the latest game, which is
currently Black Ops. The aim of Elite is to give players one single profile
that will work across all the Call of Duty games that support it.

Into The Pixel 2011: SCEA Artists Honored

2D and
3D artists usually work behind the scenes during a game’s
development, but they’re among the most important figures in the long
process of creating virtual worlds. It is up to talented conceptual
and traditional artists to visualize and produce a game’s
environments, characters and other entities before the actual
development begins. Without art as a base, it would be much more
difficult to design and develop today’s video games. Sony Computer
Entertainment of America (SCEA) is very fortunate to have many highly
skilled game artists among its dedicated developers. As a result, the
PlayStation 3 (and PSP) console benefit greatly from the highest
quality game franchises such as Ratchet & Clank, Killzone
and the Uncharted series. Along with others, these titles have
a very rich art department and it seems that, in addition to each
game’s success, their artists’ hard work is gaining some much
deserved recognition.

House of the Dead: Overkill Coming to PS3

House of the Dead: Overkill is an
on-rails
shooter developed by Headstrong
Games and
originally released by SEGA on the Wii back in 2009. The graphically enhanced and Move enabled PS3 version
is scheduled for an October 25 release.