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10
Jun

Vita TV becomes PlayStation TV in the US, Europe and Canada for $99 this fall


The Vita TV is coming to America! It’s just going to get a bit of an identity change first. Now the micro-console will be called PlayStation TV for North American and European audiences. The good news is that it will only be $99, while still giving you access to the library of PS Now games and remotely access titles on your local network. As we learned in our review, it’s not a perfect device, but it’s clear that Sony is investing in the platform… so there could be some significant improvements on the horizon. You’ll be able to pick up the newly christened PlayStation TV this fall either as a standalone unit, or as part of a bundle with a DualShock 3 controller, 8GB memory card, a HDMI cable, and a voucher for Lego: The Movie the video game. Though, honestly, we assume if you’re in the market for this streaming-only console you have most of those things already.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony

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10
Jun

Sony’s new PlayStation Network TV show ‘Powers’ hits in December, free on PS Plus


We’d heard that Sony signed up Brian Michael Bendis’ comic series Powers for an original TV show, and tonight it confirmed that at its E3 2014 event. With Bendis on stage, we saw some concept art and found out from Andrew House that the series will arrive in December on the PlayStation Network. If you’re not already familiar, it’s based on a detective investigating cases that involve individuals with superhuman abilities. Everyone in the US can watch the first ep for free on their PlayStation devices, while PS Plus subscribers can watch the entire series at no extra charge. Check out the unveil and concept art in the video embedded after the break.

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Sony

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Source: PlayStation (YouTube)

10
Jun

‘Grand Theft Auto V’ is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC


Grand Theft Auto V on PS4

If you’ve long suspected that Grand Theft Auto V would reach next-gen consoles and the PC, you were on the mark — Sony and Rockstar have confirmed that the open-world crime saga is coming to the PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One this fall. Moreover, any progress you’ve made in Grand Theft Auto Online on the PS3 or Xbox 360 carries over to its next-gen equivalents. How nice is that? There isn’t much more to say at this point, but Rockstar promises that these ports will “take full advantage” of the more powerful hardware.

Filed under: Gaming, Sony

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Source: Rockstar Games (YouTube)

10
Jun

‘Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End’ coming to PlayStation 4 in 2015


You knew a new Uncharted was coming to the PlayStation 4 — it was inevitable, really. And tonight at E3, Sony just capped off its E3 press event with a teaser trailer of Naughty Dog’s next title in the franchise: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. We didn’t get much beyond a short scene of the series’ hero Nathan Drake waking up bruised and walking through a jungle, but judging by the game’s title, this could also be the last we ever seen of Drake. Take note, the snippet of footage Sony showed was apparently captured directly from the PS4, so prepare for some absolutely gorgeous visuals. Expect to see the next-gen title arrive sometime in 2015.

Filed under: Gaming, Sony

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10
Jun

Alienware’s Steam Machine starts at $549 and launches this holiday season


Alienware is no slouch when it comes to cranking out high-end gaming PCs, but its approach to Valve’s Steam Machine project is a bit different. The company is looking to deliver a high-quality PC gaming experience to the living room, but the execution doesn’t sound much different from the experience that’s already available for other machines running Valve’s made-for-TV Big Picture Mode (BPM). The rub of the Alienware Alpha series is that the diminutive PC boots directly into BPM automatically after hitting the rig’s power button. The problem with that is two-fold: Big Picture Mode doesn’t do the best job of identifying which games are fully controller supported, and because Valve recently delayed its in-house designed controller (which essentially is a stand-in for a mouse), OEMs not delaying hardware of their own need to come up with work arounds.

In Alienware’s case, the company is shipping every one of its Alpha rigs with an Xbox 360 controller and customizing an interface to make BPM fully controller compatible. A version of that experience is already available with PCs running the Steam OS beta and connected to a TV; you still need a mouse and keyboard to do certain tasks like logging into Ubisfot’s Uplay service, though. We asked Alienware if it would be offering an upgrade (free or otherwise) to get one of Valve’s controllers when they actually ship, and were told that that was still too far out. We were told that it’s extremely difficult to answer that because “the company [Dell] doesn’t know when the Steam controller is going to be ready,” Alienware’s marketing manager Bryan de Zayas told us.

According to de Zayas, Valve’s Gabe Newell has said that Alienware’s product is the ideal Steam Machine. How so? Well, the Alpha has HDMI pass-through, it’s smaller than the other consoles, and has gigabit ethernet and fiber optic audio baked in. What’s more, the base configuration with an Intel i3 is $549 and Alienware promises games running on high settings at 1080p and 60 frames-per-second. We’ll believe that claim when we see it. Hopefully that’s this week at E3 2014.

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10
Jun

Sony E3 2014 PlayStation liveblog!


With the Xbox One taking center stage this morning at Microsoft’s press conference, Sony’s trying to own the evening with its own PlayStation-focused event tonight. What’s in store from the folks behind the PlayStation 4? We’ll find out soon enough, but allow us to venture some educated guesses: a new God of War? Perhaps an update on the long-in-development The Last Guardian? A PlayStation Vita/PlayStation 4 bundle? We’ll find out starting at 9PM ET!

With the Xbox One taking center stage this morning at Microsoft’s press conference, Sony’s trying to own the evening with its own PlayStation-focused event tonight. What’s in store from the folks behind the PlayStation 4? We’ll find out soon enough, but allow us to venture some educated guesses: a new God of War? Perhaps an update on the long-in-development The Last Guardian? A PlayStation Vita/PlayStation 4 bundle? We’ll find out starting at 9PM ET!

OKAY! It took some doing, but we’re live inside Sony’s massive press conference event.

Our team’s all plugged in and ready to go! We have Ben Gilbert and Tim Seppala on text; I’m on photos and Brad Molen’s across the way bringing you pics from the opposite end!

I’ll be your liveblogger today, along with my very tall colleague Tim Seppala. He’s joining us any minute.

To my left is Joseph Volpe, our photographer is Zach Honig and, just for fun, we’ve thrown in Edgar Alvarez and Brad Molen.

I got my Katy Perry wish here at Sony; it was a mash-up with Nirvana, but I was pretty okay with all of it.

A sea of MacBooks over in the blogger camp. As always.

Like Microsoft’s ultra-green arena earlier, Sony’s is decked out in PlayStation blue. There are floating PlayStation symbols on a massive wraparound screen.

This year we’re back in the LA Memorial Sports Arena, which is still a MASSIVE venue. It’s about the same size as the Galen Center, where Microsoft’s event was earlier today. Make no mistake: Sony and Microsoft like spending a ton of money on large venues.

A pic from afar of myself, Ben GIlbert, Joseph Volpe and Zach Honig all the way to the right, all courtesy of our photographer Brad Molen. It’s a good thing I look good in blue! However, I also look like I’m towering over Mr. Gilbert. It happens. http://t.co/IbDVz33c82

Unlike last year, there aren’t any game developers on-stage playing their own games while we wait for things to start. Instead, we’ve got mash-ups of classic songs and THUMPING BEATS. Such is life.

Since things aren’t so exciting at the moment; Zach’s amusing himself by taking awkward photos of people. It’s truly delightful, but we can’t share those images because we’re not total jerks.

Though we are partial jerks.

Anyway, what do y’all expect to see tonight? Get at us on Twitter! I’m @RealBenGilbert, Tim is @TimSeppala and Joseph is @jrvolpe. Lavish us with your guesses!

As it turns out, Justin Timberlake mixed with Daft Punk isn’t a good idea. Not two tastes that taste great together, unfortunately.

Sony has forgotten that Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories came out last year; “Lose Yourself to Dance” and “Get Lucky” were playing outside and now a mash-up of “Get Lucky” and JT’s “Suit and Tie” is on.

The lights are dimming; the music has stopped; people are clapping: THE SHOW IS ABOUT TO BEGIN.

As the Joker once said, here we go.

We’re starting with a trailer — nay, a montage — of the world of PlayStation. That world involves a lot of circle, triangle, x and square symbols.

Okay, we’re out of montage-land and moving quickly into trailer territory. We’ve got a handful of astronauts on Mars, in “present day, and they’re looking at a crazy orb floating in the sky. We’re talking about Bungie’s next game, Destiny (er, we think).

“Great cities were built on Mars and Venus. Mercury became a garden world. Human lifespan tripled. It was a time of miracles.” Yup, this is Destiny.

A gravelly narrator speaks of the fall of human civilization, centuries after humanity’s “golden age.”

As it turns out, Destiny is a game about saving the world from humanity’s end. From “darkness.” Apparently, once more, “You are Earth’s last hope.”

This game looks better every time I see it. Can’t wait until September.

The good news is that Destiny continues to look fantastic. Space? Check. Shooting alien dudes? Check. Going to the freakin’ MOON? Double check.

SCE head Andrew House is out now and he’s welcoming us all to the show. Why thank you, Andrew.

Today’s presentation is centered on showing why PlayStation 4 is the “best.” House has already taken a shot at Xbox, by pointing out that resolution on PlayStation 4 is “best.”

House says we’ll get Destiny on PlayStation 4 first on July 17th. That’s a beta. BUT WAIT, there’s also an alpha and that’s THIS WEDNESDAY. How about that!

Oh, and apparently there’s a “glacier white” PlayStation 4. It arrives on September 9th alongside Destiny, and it comes with a free 30-day membership to PlayStation Plus.

Next new property that will be available only on PS4. It looks shadowy, and possibly survivalish. There’s a heavily armed gent sneaking through a shadowy room.

The game looks very creepy, lots of neat lighting filters and effects. Remember Resident Evil 4′s film grain look? It’s sorta like that.

It’s The Order!

As it turns out, The Order: 1886 is super, super creepy? Who knew?!

And now there’s a horrific monster that literally just transformed and got even scarier after our protagonist stopped its feeding.

Thrown through a window, it looks like the game shifts between pre-rendered cutscenes and gameplay pretty fluidly (like The Last of Us did).

The lighting and detail are extremely impressive, though we’re a bit worried about how much of this is cinematic versus playable content.

Now the gent is crawling, wounded pretty badly, gritting his teeth and running from that same creature.

The creature looks like an overgrown Gollum, covered in blood and not charming whatsoever.

The gunplay looks “heavy,” and the demo ended with said beastie jumping at our unnamed protagonist.

Up next, something a lot lighter. As in, a polygonal goldfish and bird saying hello to each other. A pale sun sits behind them, and then they take off on a romp together. It looks a lot like the art style of That Game Company.

The Order: 1886 still hasn’t had a lot of details announced about it just yet; hopefully that changes this week. I’m personally super excited for it.

The game is called “Entwined,” and in terms of gameplay, it looks like Rez.

The game is a new title from a company named Pixelopus, which is internal to Sony.

Entwined has a sort of Panzer Dragoon mixed with Flower look and feel about it.

The world looks wildly different, some abstract and some based in nature. It looks calming and pretty!

If you’d like to get a better idea of how it is, you can go to the PlayStation Store right now on PlayStation 4 and buy it for $10. It’s coming to PS3 and Vita as well through cross-buy. Hey! Alright!

I’m really cool with all of the announcements we’ve seen today that give access to what was just announced being available right now.

And now, for some standalone Infamous Second Son DLC. It’s cold and in the winter, apparently.

It looks like it’s centering on the girl who gave you the neon power in the game, Fetch. She’s being interviewed by a therapist.

Could this explore the backstory with her brother?

It’s called Infamous First Light, available this August.

LittleBigPlanet 3! That’s apparently a game!

The folks from Media Molecule are up on stage and they’re introducing new mechanics through a new character named “Oddsock.” Sure, why not?

Oddsock runs like a dog, and it’s just about as adorable as you can imagine.

I don’t think it’s possible for anything Media Molecule makes to not be charming. Seriously. A smile just reflexively spread across my face when LittleBigPlanet 3 popped on stage.

There’s another new character, and his name is…Toggle? Toddle? Tuggle? They all have very British accents; we’re doing our best here.

Birds and socks! In a game! And you can play with them!

The third new character is named “Swoop,” and he can fly. It looks like Sackboy’s got a little gang going now, eh?

Nothing is safe from this roofing-nail-laden hinge-trap.

Live demo, folks! The team on-stage is working together to get through various platforming objectives. Things are going well enough, but, ya know, there’s some intermittent deaths.

The concept with the four characters isn’t just to add more adorable sackpeople, but also to alter the standard gameplay of LBP.

But let’s be honest, they’re all pretty adorable.

I just hope this does enough to shake up the “collect all the balloons” goals.

Sackboy’s having some trouble, but thankfully Swoop can pick him up and lead him to safety. Progress!

And that’s that — the quartet of cutesy characters completed the level, taking off in a cardboard spaceship. As you might expect, LittleBigPlanet 3 is coming to the PlayStation 4. Hurray!

We’re seeing a trailer of it right quick and it’s got some uplifting, vaguely international music playing. We dig it! Sackboy’s threads have never been clearer.

The game arrives this November. So that’s one of the games coming to PlayStation 4 exclusively this holiday, eh? Sweet!

Sony Worldwide Studios lead Shuhei “Shu” Yoshida is out now. He’s got a big smile and he’s talking LittleBigPlanet. He says that, when LBP3 launches, “You can just go online and play” any of the levels from previous games. The graphics will even look better!

But forget about LBP — Shu’s introducing “a completely new IP from one of the industry’s most respected game developers.”

The game is called “Bloodborne.”

Hidetaka Miyazaki is behind it, the man behind Dark Souls and the president of From Software.

It’s dark, a very gothic feeling starting form the top of the city down to a dungeon, very medievaly.

And now there’s a slew of villagers and undead dogs (?) and a bloody corpse being dragged. There’s a lot of blood and unskinned people here, folks.

And a man with a very large gun, who’s killing ghouls.

Bloodborne, true to its name, is full of blood. Just tons of blood.

Onto gameplay now, from the looks of it. A gent carrying a large torch is looking over a room of skeletons. And we’re ending the demo with a jump scare and a 2015 release window.

This is very likely “Project Beast,” the rumored next game from Miyazaki. And now, Far Cry 4!

Alex Hutchinson is out on stage talking about it, the creative director. His time on stage is brief though, as we’re already jumping into a gameplay demo. Ajay Ghale is the name of the main character, apparently.

The level is full of prayer flags as Ajay descends a cliffside. It’s very pretty, but also looks a lot like a first-person action game. Plants are clipping through rocks, and the movement is a bit stiff.

Pretty sure the last time I was in the Himalayas in a video game was in Uncharted 2. The setting seems awfully underutilized.

Apparently there’s a grapple your player can use, enabling Ajay to sneak up on… bad guys? We’re not actually clear on why he’s killing these dudes, but we’re gonna assume they did something mean to Ajay’s family or something.

Crossbow bolts to the base of the spine: almost always fatal.

The setting is certainly unique, and we like the little touches. Ajay hijacks an enemy car and it’s full of local flavor, like flowers and bells.

Casually, while driving alongside a mountainside, Ajay jumps from his car into an enemy truck and kills everyone in it. No big. Then he narrowly escapes a rock falling by PUTTING ON A WINGSUIT AND FLYING AWAY. We like action, but this is a bit extreme, even for Far Cry.

What’s not extreme? That awfully adorable elephant that’s shooting water over its back.

The elephant is on a rampage now, taking dudes out. It’s getting very real in the Himalayas, everyone.

Should you need help after descending from the mountainside, Ajay called in a helper in a heli and started raining down bullets on an encampment. WHAT DID THESE PEOPLE DO TO AJAY?!

That elephant though. Seriously.

Adam Boyes taking the stage and that means one thing: indies.

And if all that weren’t enough, Ajay freed an elephant, which ravaged the camp.

Or not? You can invite Far Cry 3 players to join in your game for co-op even if they don’t own the game.

Dead Island is up next. Er, Dead Island 2? Probably that.

This song from what’s almost assuredly the new Dead Island trailer is “I’m the Bomb” by Pigeon John. You might have heard it in Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD, first.

A douchey-looking tanned white dude is jogging along the beach. Unfortunately for him, he’s turning into a zombie as he runs. It’s pretty gross.

But the people behind him getting attacked by zombies are hilarious!

A massive zombie-murder van pulls up and takes out all the zombies. Hooray! This looks a lot like Dead Rising now. What happened to all the seriousness, Dead Island?

In the Diablo Ultimate Evil Edition, enemies like Bloaters and Clickers from The Last of Us will be in the game.

Dead Island 2 is getting a beta, exclusive for 30 days on PlayStation 4. It’s all about the exclusives tonight, apparently.

Now for another Battlefield: Hardline trailer.

Look y’all, I really like Battlefield. This game does not look like Battlefield. It looks like a Battlefield-inspired action game. I wanna be into it. I can’t get into it.

It’s much more controlled than what we saw at EA’s event earlier, but you can apparently grapple up the sides of buildings now, and there’s a lot of car chasing. Again, if this game launches and works well from the get go, I’ll be very impressed.

Adam’s talking Destiny once more. A ton of content is arriving on PlayStation 4 exclusively, including a “strike” on Mars.

More new property, with Paradox Interactive, who makes a lot of RTS and games of that nature for PC.

So, we’re seeing what looks a lot like Death being very lonely around his house. Except he’s wearing a red robe and polishing a staff that destroys everything, even his cat.

Magicka’s back!

The game? Magicka 2. It’s an isometric jaunt.

“Learn to spell, again!” Puns!

The last letter that Adam’s got behind him comes from Sally T., age 10. She’s asking for Tim Schafer’s old games, the man behind games like Monkey Island.

Grim Fandango is apparently heading to PlayStation 4! That’s a classic that’s been locked away for years.

Okay, some big news form Devolver Digital. All of the following will be making PS4-exclusive debuts. BroForce (PS4/Vita), Titan Souls, Not a Hero (PS4/Vita), Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PS3/PS4/Vita), The Talos Principle.

Wow, Devolver Digital’s come a LONG way in the past few years. These games all look incredible!

The latter is only coming to PS4.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony

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10
Jun

Watch Sony’s E3 2014 PlayStation event right here!


Of course our liveblog is the best way to keep up with everything Sony will announce at its E3 launch event tonight, but if you want to see it for yourself you can do that too. Check out an embedded live stream after the break, watch on PlayStation.com, or load up the PS@E3 app on your PS4 for a quick link to the Ustream feed. Things are scheduled to start in just a few moments at 9PM ET, so choose wisely.

Update: UStream not working? Try the YouTube feed embedded below or right here.


Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Sony

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Source: PlayStation Blog

10
Jun

Destiny Beta coming to PlayStation 4 on July 17th


Sony’s Andrew House just kicked off the company’s E3 show by announcing an open beta for Bungie’s Destiny on July 17th. But gamers won’t have to wait until later this summer for a crack at the massively multiplayer online title; House also mentioned that the open world title would be available this Wednesday as an alpha build for those of you that like works-in-progress. And to make the pot even sweeter for interested parties, Sony’s releasing an exclusive bundle that comes with an all-white — sorry, that’s “glacier white” — PlayStation 4 and free 30-day trial to PS Plus, Sony’s network service, on September 9th. So, it’s confirmed: Destiny’s launch marks the beginning of the many colored PS4s to come.

Filed under: Gaming, Sony

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10
Jun

Sony’s Playstation 4 will be available in white this September, comes with Destiny and 500GB


Not only did Sony just announce that the beta of Bungie’s next title, Destiny, is coming as a beta next month, it also let the cat out of the bag that you’ll be able to get the game bundled with a “glacial white” Playstation 4 on September 9th. The new-hued console will come with 500GB of storage and a free 30 day membership to Playstation Plus.

Follow our liveblog at Sony’s E3 2014 conference for the latest updates!

Filed under: Gaming, Sony

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10
Jun

Sony announces ‘Little Big Planet 3’ with loads of new characters and abilities


You know you want it. We don’t even have to ask, and Sony is delivering! Little Big Planet 3 is coming. The most immediately notable change is the slew of new characters, like the quadrupedal Oddsock and the flying Swoop. Flying is an obvious new trick, but there’s also a the ability to wall jump and a larger character that can shove obstacles out of the way and generally hurl his girth around the level. The idea is that multiple character can cooperate to extend the world of Little Big Planet in interesting ways. And don’t worry, if you and your friends have invested countless hours crafting levels for the first two titles, they’ll actually be playable in the newest installment — complete with automatically upscaled graphics! There’s also sorts of great new mechanics and beautiful new graphics to enjoy. Though, you’ll have to be patient, Little Big Planet 3 won’t hit the Playstation 4 until the holiday season.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony

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