PSN Store

A pamphlet circulated at a Sony sales briefing in Japan has detailed how PSP owners will be able to continue playing their UMD collection on Vita. News of the pamphlet came from a Japanese retailer who claimed to be in attendance at the event. More >

Sony's PSN Imports programme begins this week, with three lesser-known PlayStation games to launch on the European PlayStation Store. All three ports have been handled by MonkeyPaw games, which has been busily converting obscure Japanese PSOne games to PS3 since PSN Imports launched in the US last September. More >

UPDATE: Sony confirms promotion is US-only but "the majority of the content" will be released in Europe. A selection of "rare classic games" will be made available on the US PlayStation Store this week, according to Industry Gamers. The move is part of Only On PlayStation Network, Sony's bid to draw attention to the range of exclusive games available from its PlayStation 3 download store. On October 4, PS2 classics including Capcom's high-camp brawler God Hand and hack-and-slash title Maximo: Ghosts To Glory, Konami's strategy game Ring Of Red, and Vanillaware titles Odin Sphere and GrimGrimoire will be released. More >

Sony has presented those looking forward to today's launch of the Battlefield 3 multiplayer beta with a major headache by taking PSN down for maintenance this evening. In a post on the PlayStation community forums, Sony confirms that PSN will be offline between 5pm and 7pm BST. More >

Free Realms is now available on the European PlayStation Network, Sony Online Entertainment has announced. The family-friendly, free-to-play MMOG was released in 2009 for PC and last year for Mac, and has been available on the US PlayStation Store since March. It is the second SOE MMOG to hit PSN, following the release of DC Universe Online in January. More >

Sony has revamped its PlayStation 3 video on demand service, with a vastly improved AI and greatly simplified discoverability, and renamed it Video Unlimited. As before, Video Unlimited offers a selection of films and TV shows for rent or purchase, in both standard and high definition. Now, a bar on the right of the screen suggests related videos, linked by genre, setting, actors and more. More >

Crytek's 2007 PC shooter Crysis will be released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 4, publisher EA has confirmed. More >

Sega has confirmed that Dreamcast classic Space Channel 5 Part 2 will be released on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade on October 4 and 5 respectively. More >

Edge publisher Future has teamed up with Sony Computer Entertainment UK to launch Access, a new on-console PS3 video show available to download for free every Wednesday from the PlayStation Store. More >

The PlayStation Network has been out of action for over three hours and there is currently no indication when it will be back online. More >

EA has announced that an open beta test of Battlefield 3's multiplayer mode will begin on September 29. More >

This is the first footage of Just Add Water's HD remaster of the 2005 Xbox shooter, which is set for release on PlayStation Store, with Move support, this year.

Further to this morning's news that Crytek's 2007 PC shooter is headed to PS3 and Xbox 360 comes confirmation from EA that it will be a downloadable title, priced at 1600 MSP / £14.99, run on CryEngine 3 and support 3D. CEO Cevat Yerli said: "We are extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish with Crysis. We set out to create a next-generation FPS and delivered a PC experience that became a benchmark for quality – and still is for many gamers even four years later. By bringing the single-player campaign to console, we believe we are again setting a new standard for quality in downloadable gaming."

Rock Paper Shotgun reports that Ubisoft has fulfilled its promise to remove From Dust's always-on DRM in a patch; update the game through Steam now and play offline to your heart's content. Meanwhile, Ubisoft confirmed yesterday that the Eric Chahi god sim will finally be released for PlayStation 3 on September 14 in Europe, and September 27 in North America.

The multiplayer beta of Ezio's final outing, Assassin's Creed Revelations, will be made available to all PSN account holders today. It was originally exclusive to members of PlayStation Plus and Ubisoft's Uplay, but from 10am UK time today all PSN users can download it from the PlayStation Store. A word of warning: the dreaded "scheduled maintenance" means PSN will be offline between 4pm and 6pm GMT today. Oh, and another: the beta is a 2.5GB download.

After last week's debut trailer comes a first set of screenshots for Valve's Counter-Strike reboot, which is set for release on Steam, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network early next year.

Kim Swift's next project is a firstperson puzzler called Quantum Conundrum, which is due on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and Steam early next year. It casts players as a child dropped on the doorstep of an inventor uncle's laboratory-cum-manor-house, with puzzles solved using the Interdimensional Shift Device. Batteries dotted around the map allow you to change 'dimensions' at will, with each giving the world and objects in it different properties. For Swift's video walkthrough of the game's early moments, follow the source link below.