Sony announces new PlayStation Vita games & Mobile gaming service

The service, previously known as the PlayStation Suite, will provide apps for a range of devices including the PlayStation Vita, Sony's smartphone and tablet range and some Android devices.

The service was one of several announcements made by Sony at the Gamescon video game trade show in Cologne.

As part of a range of measures aimed at boosting the PlayStation Vita, Sony announced that PlayStation 3 owners would be able to use the Vita as a controller from later this month, following a firmware update.

The company also previewed a service called Cross Buy, which would allow gamers to pay once for PS3 and Vita versions of the same title. Sony will also add the PlayStation Plus service to the Vita, as well as bringing the PlayStation One game catalogue to the portable console.

Two new PlayStation Vita games were announced at the German games show. Killzone Mercenary is a first-person shooter that utilises the Vita's touch controls, while Tearaway is a game from the makers of LittleBigPlanet and is set in a world made of paper.

In a recent interview a senior Sony executive said that the company was struggling to get third-party developers to support the PlayStation Vita. Shuhei Yoshida told PlayStation: The Official Magazine that he was having "a more difficult time than I anticipated".

He said: "We will continue to talk to development communities and publishing partners and tell them why Vita can provide a great experience for the IPs they have and I hope the Assassin’s Creed game will prove that."

Sony has not provided sales data for the PlayStation Vita, which was released in Britain in February, but last week said it had sold "an acceptable number".

Today's Gamescom announcements are likely to be seen as an attempt to sell more Vitas to PS3 owners.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

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Assassin's Creed III Trailer Unveil More Revolutionary Gameplay

Ubisoft has released the Assassin's Creed 3's new trailer, set during the American Revolution. The 2 minutes trailer gives a glimpse of the game's smooth running graphics and action gameplay.

The video gives a detailed look at the new protagonist in the series of Assassin's Creed, Connor Kenway. It shows how Connor tracks down his targets and attacks them with speed, stealth, and bringing down his targets in a very skilled manner.

"Ubisoft's blockbuster running, jumping and stabbing franchise Assassin's Creed has been stuck in Renaissance-era Italy for the last three games, but it's making a big change with its next installment. Assassin's Creed III shifts the stage to the American Revolution, and in doing so has reignited excitement among sneaky gamers," writes Slashgear.

The trailer also revealed how Connor takes down a slew of Red Coat before leaping to axe down a commanding officer in all one fluid motion. Connor also takes on nature as he prepares to slay a bear along with hunting various animals throughout the game.

With Connor being half Caucasian and half Native American puts him into conflicting situation where he needs to decide where his loyalty lies. In the game we see that Connor uses hatchet, small knives, a bow and arrow and a flintlock rifle with a bayonet. In the previous series, the protagonist mainly used a hidden dagger.

"It was important he was outside of the conflict. He's not British or Colonial and has his own reasons for being involved, his own path that happens to intersect with the Revolution. Our story is of both the Assassins and the Templars, that's the focus of our story...The Templars get their dirty little hands in everything, so Connor's trajectory through the Revolution isn't one sided at all, he'll be going where the Templars are and they're everywhere," said Matt Turner lead writer of the game in an interview with Official Playstation Magazine.

The game, Assassin's Creed 3 is set to be released on October 30, 2012 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Check out the trailer below:

Tags: Pc games, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation, Assassin's Creed III

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PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Officially Revealed

After it being teased, hinted at, speculated, and just about every term you can think of that means “suspected – and rightly so – but not yet actually confirmed,” Sony has officially announced their first-party fighting game, complete with one of the most unappealing names in videogame-dom. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (ugh) is due to hit the PlayStation 3 sometime this holiday season, and will feature a cavalcade (the exact number has yet to be confirmed) of first-party PlayStation characters, as well as third-party mascots, whoever they will turn out to be.

In the released screenshots, (which you can see below, along with the reveal video – no, I don‘t mean trailer), you can see Kratos, Parappa, Needles Kane (better known as Sweet Tooth), Fat Princess, Sly Cooper, and what looks like one of the Killzone Marines duking it out in a few different stages. The stages themselves look to be drawn from God of War, Patapon, and the Jak and Daxter series. This may or may not mean that we’ll see characters from Patapon and Jak and Daxter appear in the roster, but a PlayStation ‘all-stars’ game missing characters like Jak, Ratchet, Cole McGrath, Lillet Blan, and Oswald the Shadow Knight would be, in my opinion, incomplete. It would also be cool to see stages drawn from thatgamecompany’s Journey and Flower.

Developer SuperBot Entertainment are clearly very excited about the new title, calling it their ‘labour of love,’ and have developed it to celebrate the history of PlayStation’s most iconic worlds and characters. They’ve also outlined their design goal for the game, stating that:

• “With PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, we set out to make an experience accessible enough for all PlayStation fans to enjoy while also creating something deep enough for the serious fighting game aficionado. We think this “accessible yet deep” strategy is the perfect way to bring PlayStation fans of all stripes together.”

With more character and stage reveals on the horizon, and, from the sounds of the PlayStation Blog, something very special planned for E3, it seems like we’ll soon be swimming in news about the title. Keep on scrolling for the video and screenshots, if your interest isn’t yet piqued.

Now, as you may have guessed from my opinions on characters that should be included, I’m pretty interested by the title. After looking at the released media, though, my worry is that the game’s resemblance to Super Smash Bros. is just a little too much. I want to see the game succeed, but it will be up to SuperBot to give the game enough mechanical difference from Nintendo‘s popular first-party brawler to make it stand out, since, stylistically, they are very similar. What do you guys think? Too close to Super Smash Bros.? And what characters and stages would you like to see represented in the first-party Sony brawler?

Tags: PlayStation, Sony

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Crytek: Next-gen used games block 'would be absolutely awesome'

Dev also wants to avoid Crysis 'most pirated PC game of the year' repeat

The introduction of an anti-used game measure for next-gen consoles would be "absolutely awesome," says Crysis dev Crytek.

Released in March 2011, Crysis 2 racked up three million sales within four months, according to EA. It was an impressive sales total in the most competitive of genres, and more than enough to ensure the publisher was keen to partner with the German developer again on 2013's Crysis 3, but it could have been much higher, and the two companies would have received a great deal more revenue, were it not for second-hand game sales and piracy.
Last week we asked Rasmus Hojengaard, Crytek's director of creative development, what the studio would like to see when the platform holders launch the next round of consoles.

"The worst thing that can happen is they make something that's very complex for developers, regardless of how awesome it might theoretically be," he said. "So getting hardware that allows you to quickly get prototypes up and running, and any kind of scalability they can offer will be great as well, as long as everyone has that scalability and not just a select few."

Asked if he'd like to see Microsoft and Sony introduce anti-used game measures, as has been rumoured for Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4, Hojengaard added:

"From a business perspective that would be absolutely awesome. It's weird that [second-hand] is still allowed because it doesn't work like that in any other software industries, so it would be great if they could somehow fix that issue as well."

Boosting sales on PC is arguably an even greater priority, given that Crysis 2 was named the most pirated game of 2011, with the PC version alone illegally downloaded somewhere in the region of four million times.

"It's very flattering and upsetting at the same time," Hojengaard said of the situation. "Obviously you miss so much revenue, it's so clear that a lot of people want to play your game but they don't really want to pay for it, which is unfortunately really disappointing.

"It's also a little flattering because people are willing to bother download these 10GB files or whatever the game takes because they think it looks great. We obviously want to avoid that this time, but even if we can convert 25 percent of those gamers into paying customers [you have an extra million sales]."

How do you go about doing that? "You'd have to ask someone who knows something about that, because it's not me," the Crytek man said.

We'll have more from our interview with Hojengaard later this week. In the meantime, check out Crysis 3's newly released gameplay trailer, plus our recently published Crysis 3 preview, in which our man Ben Griffin called the FPS "a contender for best-looking game of all time".


Source: Computerandvideogames

Tags: Pc games, Crysis 3, Xbox, PlayStation

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Crysis 3: The best-looking game we've ever seen

New York has gone to shit. Beautiful, beautiful shit. In Crysis 3, the speedily developed sequel to 2011's near-future shooter, Mother Nature shows Lady Liberty how to properly dominate a skyline.

It's the best of both worlds: Crysis' organic greenery butting heads with the sequel's towering skyscrapers. Sunlight pierces thick patches of canopy, flooded streets swell into raging rivers, vines scratch and claw at buildings and wildlife flits about your face. This is less urban jungle and more urban rainforest.

And you call it home.

It's 2047, 23 years after US army major Prophet slapped on his Nanosuit 2.0 and took to the quarantined, alien-invaded Big Apple - but this time something's taken a big old bite of it. Namely, C.E.L.L. (Crynet Enforcement and Local Logistics), a private military company under US government mandate. They really, really want your exoskeleton and will do anything to get it - like erect a multi-mile Nanodome over the city to lock you down.

UNDER THE DOME

It's all a bit The Simpsons Movie, but the 'Liberty Dome' is a compelling idea. Under its transparent cover the city splits into districts known as 'The Seven Wonders', another bit of propaganda it seems as there's nothing wonderful about them. The story - the one they've fed news stations and the public anyway - is this citywide structure is there to protect the population and rid the planet of remaining alien forces.

But you know the truth. Biomedical company CryNet (parent of C.E.L.L.) wants your suit and the Earth-invading Ceph want you dead. They're all overlooking one thing: you're not locked in with them... they're locked in with you.

This is more paradise than prison, and Cabela's Dangerous Hunt presumably proved developer Crytek's inspiration in the way you track and stalk through thick vegetation. (We're joking, of course. Or... are we?) It's a sprawl you've slaughtered through before, but this New York is different. In a word, it's stunning. In two, it's absolutely stunning, and looks set to continue Crysis' lineage of hardware-defying graphics.

Rasmus Højengaard, director of creative development at Crytek, had this to say when we tracked him down at the preview event: "Obviously we're limited by things such as memory, but we have brilliant R&D guys and they're able to do things that no-one has done on consoles before." Fair point, but will this be a tale of two cities - the better being the PC version? "What's important", says Rasmus, "is the experience doesn't change."
Regardless of platform, this is surely a contender for best-looking game of all time. CryENGINE 3 is a fierce reminder Crytek are among the best in the business at both squeezing juice out of ageing platforms and putting the frightening power of newer ones to dazzling effect.

But something's got to give.

In this preview version, framerate is the casualty, silky smooth when demoed to us on a presumably NASA-donated PC (never-dipping under 90 frames-per-second) but likely the main concession for now six-year old consoles. Like Crysis 2 it'll churn and struggle during intense moments of debris-scattering mayhem, and the fire and lighting effects alone look too gorgeous not to send consoles to a crawl, but Crytek have ways around that. Bow, meet arrow.

BOW STREET RUNNER
The bow and arrow are key to less CPU-straining stealth, a pointed example of your new survival skills. The go-to weapon of ancient conquerors maybe, but Sun Tzu never customised his with explosive arrowheads, fire modes and scopes. Rasmus coyly alluded to different ammo types too: "There's going to be a variety. They don't all just do damage."

Your Meccano-like bow is ultra-customisable and packs a punch: a cam that tracks your kill-shots to their gruesome conclusion looks like something straight out of Hollywood, and frag arrows make a more accurate alternative to vague grenade lobs. When all else fails? A trusty knife and a close-up execution. However, you're not the only one with expensive new hardware.

The Ceph are licking their wounded tentacles since the hydraulically-powered kicking you gave them in the last game, but they've returned locked and loaded. Flamethrowers, plasma mortars and stealth-disabling cameras swell their space arsenal and sit comfortably alongside massive Ceph tripods (think AT-AT's designed by Hideo Kojima) and hulking Devastator Units. And they're not alone.

You've also got to watch your space-age-fibered back against C.E.L.L. soldiers, who wield near-future tech like the returning SCARAB rifles and Jackal shotguns. Both factions represent different threats, different angles of attack. The Ceph are faster, bigger and stronger, but humans have tanks, jeeps and turrets. If it's anything like the last two games you'll be able to drive them all.

If the two come into contact? They'll fight each other, recalling heart-in-mouth moments from Crysis 2 where the Ceph took aim at tanks by flinging giant arching balls of white plasma during a night siege. The core powers of your suit are once again the focus: armour, stealth and power mode, along with your visor's heat vision and tracking binoculars - open different avenues for combat.

Crytek wasn't willing to be drawn on how the suit will differ from its predecessor, other than it will be "enhanced", but we know already that, through the suit, you'll be able to hack into alien turrets and control extra-terrestrial weaponry. The bigger fun for some, however, is shooting real people in competitive multiplayer.

CITY ON FIRE
It was an underrated hoot in the last game, combining a CoD control scheme and Brink-like parkour with high-powered armour abilities seemingly straight out of Halo Reach. "You don't even know yet if there's going to be a multiplayer, and you're not going to be able to rhetorically lure me into saying that there is one!" joked Rasmus. Oh come on, what's going on the back of the box then? "We're not talking about that now, but that will be revealed later on." We'll take that as a yes, then.

Nature's reclaimed New York, and Crytek's reclaimed Crysis. There will undoubtedly be framerate issues on hardware less than a few minutes old, and those turned off by Crysis 2's invasion plotline and at times staggeringly dumb AI might find old issues remain - but it's hard to argue with high-tech weaponery, wide swathes of self-enclosed and stunning sandboxes, and do-it-your-way combat that packs a punch.
Welcome to the urban jungle.

Source: Computerandvideogames

Tags: Pc games, Crysis 3, Xbox, PlayStation, PlayStation 4, Xbox 720

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Halo 4 release date confirmed for November by Microsoft

The next instalment in the popular Halo video game series has been given a global release date of 6 November.

Microsoft said it marked a "new beginning" for the series, which it confirmed would now continue for the next decade.

The new game will be set four years after Halo 3 and see the game's hero, Master Chief, "confront his destiny and face an ancient evil".

Halo games have sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.

The first-person shooter first appeared on the original Xbox console in 2001, before moving to the Xbox 360 with games like Halo 3 and Halo Reach.

Developer 343 Industries, part of Microsoft's in-house games department, will be in charge of producing the new Halo for the first time.

It's taking over from Bungie who made the previous games in the series.

Halo's November release means the game is likely to face tough competition from other highly-anticipated titles.

Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto 5 is rumoured for an October 2012 release, while Assassin's Creed 3 and Resident Evil 6 are out in the same month.

For the last three years, the Call of Duty series has dominated the November games release schedule.

Much-publicised titles like Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops have sold millions of copies in the lucrative run-up to Christmas.

Microsoft will be looking to rival that success but will also be competing with another high-profile event - the US presidential elections, which take place on the same day.

For the last three years, the Call of Duty series has dominated the November games release schedule.

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