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Mar
24

(Look like you) Work at Shinra - Crisis Core: FFVII Launch Event Tomorrow Night

+ Posted by Jeff Rubenstein // Social Media Manager

Imagine the drudgery of working for Shinra Company. Day after day, you do the accounting or tech support or whatever it is that helps the malevolent, Midgar-based corporation suck the very life out of the planet. Of course, there *is* a very nice gym on the 64th floor …

OK, so unless you cut down rain forests for a living, Shinra’s probably not a dream employer. But it still would be cool to have a nice, shiny Shinra work ID badge. Like, in case you need to rescue a ginger-haired girl or a large, talking red dog from the upper reaches of the tower.

And that’s exactly what you’ll get if you’re one of the first 200 people in line for CRISIS CORE - FINAL FANTASY VII tomorrow night. Square Enix is holding a launch event for the much-anticipated PSP game from 6-9pm at the PlayStation Store @ Metreon (101 4th St, San Francisco, CA). The first 100 customers in line will receive a special t-shirt, and other prizes will be raffled off in themed packages (take a look at the pics, enshrouded in mystery). More details can be found here.

I’ll be on hand, as I really want one of those Shinra ID badges. But if you’re planning on heading up to the 70th floor to give President Shinra a piece of your mind (or gun arm), I regret to inform you that Sephiroth beat you to it.

Tagged // crisis core, psp

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Rate: (Average: 4.44 out of 5)

Filed: Find Us, Title Spotlight
Mar
12

Firmware Update (v2.17)

+ Posted by Jeff Rubenstein // Social Media Manager

If you’ve signed in to the PLAYSTATION Network tonight on your PS3, you probably noticed that you were prompted to upgrade the system’s firmware to v2.17. In case you were wondering what it’s all about (and a quick Google search indicates that yes, you are) the operating stability of some online PS3 titles has been improved.

Hope that clears things up!

Tagged // firmware, ps3

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Rate: (Average: 2.89 out of 5)

Filed: Hardware, PlayStation Network
Mar
12

Coming This Fall: MotorStorm 2

+ Posted by Jeff Rubenstein // Social Media Manager

You may have wondered what that counter was ticking down to on top of Threespeech, or read bits of information on sites like on Eurogamer, or recently dropped by IGN for the video reveal - but here’s the news in its entirety: MotorStorm 2 is coming this fall.

The MotorStorm style of anything-goes racing is moving from the mountainous desert to a lush Pacific island, replete with thick swamps, dense jungle, towering peaks and steaming volcanoes. You’ll be rampaging through thick mud, tangled undergrowth, swift flowing rivers, and searing lava pools of this new location with all of the vehicles familiar to players of the first MotorStorm: ATVs, rally cars, buggies, motorbikes, race trucks, mudpluggers and Big Rigs. Joining the cast is the new monster truck class, likely to become a fan favorite (check out the video below).

It’s still a bit early, but here’s what we can confirm as far as features are concerned: 16 new multi-route tracks, 16 players can race head-to-head online, and a hugely requested feature hits MotorStorm: 4-player split-screen mode.

We’ll have more updates as MotorStorm 2 nears release, but in the meantime, take a look at the new environments and new monster truck in this just-released trailer.

Tagged // motorstorm, ps3

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Rate: (Average: 4.68 out of 5)

Filed: Title Spotlight
Feb
22

GDC: PlayStation Blogger Lounge Wrap-up (Part 1)

+ Posted by Jeff Rubenstein // Social Media Manager

If you’ve been wondering (aloud, some of you), where this Blog’s GDC updates have been - well even the best laid plans can be crushed under the treads of mighty Flu Season. Rest assured, once my temperature drops under 100 F (fingers crossed), I’ll make an effort to get answers to those questions you were nice enough to send in last week.

On the opposite side of the coin, our PlayStation Blogger’s Lounge was a success in that it allowed dozens of media outlets access and time to post hundreds of stories on GDC developments such as Insomniac’s Nocturnal initiative, Sony’s PhyreEngine graphics engine, and hands-on impressions of flOw PSP, echochrome, and GT5: Prologue with the new Logitech Driving Force GT wheel.

So much thanks to sites like Kotaku, Joystiq (and their affiliated Fanboy sites), Destructoid, GameSpot, Gamervision, IGN, Level Up, MTV’s Multiplayer, and everyone else who dropped on by over the past few days.

Sidenote: it’s becoming clear that we need to re-institute our policing of the comments area. A number of you have mentioned that they’re sick of wading through unrelated requests that have begun creeping back into nearly every blog post. So, keep it on topic, people! We don’t enjoy banning people as much as you might think (we’ve really only done it like 10 times in the history of the blog).

If there’s something off topic you’re itching to talk about, send it to the Contact Us link on the right side of the blog (we read them!), or take it to the ever-present boards. Thanks!

Tagged // gdc

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Rate: (Average: 4.1 out of 5)

Filed: Find Us
Feb
20

Work at Insomniac, play life-sized chess

+ Posted by Jeff Rubenstein // Social Media Manager

The Game Developers Conference isn’t just about showing off new games (really, that’s a rather small part of the conference). It’s a place where aspiring game developers can land themselves the job of a lifetime. Like working for Insomniac Games. As if getting to work on the Ratchet and Resistance series wasn’t incentive enough, the Insomniacs are attempting to lure in new candidates via song at their booth. Take a look:

Twice weekly massages(!)

Tagged // gdc, insomniac

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Rate: (Average: 4.56 out of 5)

Filed: Developer Corner
Feb
19

GDC Tuesday: PlayStation Blogger Lounge Day 1 Highlights

+ Posted by Jeff Rubenstein // Social Media Manager

Hey all, hope you’re enjoying the GDC festivities so far. Day 1 of the Sony Blogger Lounge has been a success, with press from around the world getting their hands on games like flOw PSP, Secret Agent Clank, echochrome, and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Big shout out to those who have stopped by on Day 1, like bloggers from Level Up, IGN, Gamervision, 1up, MTV Multiplayer, EuroGamer, Gametrailers, Ars Technica, Destructoid (minus the Robot, regrettably), PC World, GameDaily, TotalPlayStation.com, Gamervision, and many more.

Slightly more thanks to those who documented what they saw, like Joystiq and IGN.

Things will pick up noticeably tomorrow, as we get the developers in here for one on one interviews, so expect a ton of coverage from the outlets listed above (and certainly even more than that). We’ll also have the cameras on, asking the devs those questions you want answered.

Not able to make it to GDC or want check out more of what’s happening in The Lounge? You can check out our Twitter and Flickr accounts or find out more details here.

Tagged // gdc

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Rate: (Average: 4.23 out of 5)

Filed: Find Us
Feb
18

Is the “format war” over?

+ Posted by Jeff Rubenstein // Social Media Manager

I don’t know how much you gamers have been following the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD “format war”, but since every PS3 owner has a stake in it, I thought I’d share some interesting developments that have taken place recently…

If you *have* been paying attention, you’ll probably remember that about a month ago, Warner Bros. threw its considerable weight behind the Blu-ray Disc format. Then in the last week, both Best Buy and Netflix also chose Blu-ray as their format of choice.

This weekend, in what might be the decisive victory in this “format war,” Toshiba - leader of the HD-DVD camp - is reported to be pulling out of the HD-DVD business. Analysts had been saying that a lot of consumers are waiting for a clear format victor before plunking down their hard-earned money on a device. Based on this month’s NPD numbers, consumers had seen which way the wind was blowing even before this week.

Blu-ray’s benefits for gaming development are clear. For those of you who have seen their PS3 as the hub of their home entertainment center, I hope you find this piece of news reassuring as well.

Happy Presidents’ Day, and see you from GDC!

Tagged // blu-ray

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Rate: (Average: 4.72 out of 5)

Filed: Statements
Feb
15

GHIII Aerosmith DLC on PSN tonight

+ Posted by Jeff Rubenstein // Social Media Manager

Just a quick heads up - it’s not PLAYSTATION Store Update Thursday, but Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock owners will find something new to play coming to the store this weekend.

Add-on content: Aerosmith’s “Dream On” (16.1 MB)

The song will show up at midnight tonight (Pacific Time), and stay up until 11:59pm (Pacific Time) this Monday, February 18th. And it’s free.

What’s the special occasion? Fans of plastic Gibson guitars and Steven Tyler & Co will soon be in luck.

Tagged // guitar hero, psn

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Rate: (Average: 3.73 out of 5)

Filed: Title Spotlight
Feb
14

PlayStation.Blog @ GDC

+ Posted by Jeff Rubenstein // Social Media Manager

As you may well know, next week brings us the Game Developers Conference in sunny (for now) San Francisco. It’s a place where game creators of all types can learn, share, and connect. Sometimes, it’s where a young kid gets his/her big break. They also have a LOLcats page. So, just like with CES, I’m putting our PlayStation.Blog coverage in the hands of you, the faithful blog reader.

If you could ask someone from Q-Games, Incognito, Clap Hanz or our Santa Monica Studios any question - what would it be? As much as possible, I’ll pass those questions on, and report back with answers. We’ll also be posting game development insights from Shuhei Yoshida, SCEA Senior Vice President of Product Development.

Over the weekend, we’ll also temporarily install a twitter feed on the right side of the blog for updates throughout GDC. If you’d like to sign up to follow along now, you can do that here. And of course, we’ll have a special section on our Flickr page to give you an idea of what the whole thing looks like.

So what else do we have planned? Well, as part of the blogging community (and what a strange group it is), we’re going to give back this year. So for all the bloggers out there covering GDC in some official capacity (read: you’ve got official credentials), allow me to extend an invite to our PlayStation Bloggers’ Lounge. We’ll have all you need to get your work done (WiFi, food, caffeine), as well as game demos, and even access to some of the developers mentioned above. More details here.

Stay tuned for more updates. Until then, get those questions in!

Tagged // gdc

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Rate: (Average: 4.79 out of 5)

Filed: Find Us
Feb
11

New Blog Feature: Post Ratings

+ Posted by Jeff Rubenstein // Social Media Manager

Today we’re rolling out yet another new feature to the PlayStation.Blog: post ratings. At the bottom of each post you will now see the familiar 5-~~star~~ square-rating thing.

At first it will display the current average rating, if there is one. To assign your own rating to a post simply move your mouse over the squares and click on one. One square is the lowest, five squares is the highest.

We’re always looking for feedback on the content we post here, and obviously your ratings will help with that. We get a lot of good comments here on the Blog, but the vast majority of them come from a very small percentage of readers. Hopefully this feature will help empower those who aren’t comfortable composing a full-on reply to our posts.

Thanks, and happy rating!

Tagged // psb, ratings

84 Comments Digg This

Rate: (Average: 4.46 out of 5)

Filed: Statements