All 4 streaming app arrives on PlayStation 4
If your PlayStation 4 hogs the first or second input on your telly, there’s a good chance it doubles as your TV streaming box too. It already has a bundle of apps including iPlayer and Netflix, but today an important service is joining its roster: All 4. The live streaming and on-demand service from Channel 4 (formerly known as 4oD) is now available from the UK PSN store, giving you easy access to programmes like Homeland and Fargo. This particular app only supports catchup viewing though, so you’ll need to use another device if you want to tune in live. Given that Demand 5 is already available on the PS4, that means ITV Hub is the only service from the big terrestrial trio now missing on Sony’s console.
Source: Channel 4
GoPro’s streaming channel finally lands on PlayStation
GoPro’s been feeding the other gaming platform its curated video channel for over half a year. Now, it’s ready “for the players.” The console app will allow PS3 and PS4 owners to stream all the sane GoPro content, as well as shop for the company’s products, directly from their gaming systems. The channel will launch with at least one exclusive video, though, The 66th Parallel – Discovering Iceland with Ben Brown. Though, it will only be an exclusive until December 29th, at which time it will disseminate to GoPro’s other platforms including Amazon Fire TV, Xbox, and Roku.
[Image Credit: Getty]
Last-gen systems aren’t getting new ‘Call of Duty’ maps
If you’re still feeling salty over Activision nixing Call of Duty: Black Ops III‘s campaign mode on last-gen systems the next bit of news won’t do much to make the situation any better. In an announcement about the latest set of downloadable content, the “Awakening” pack which includes a quartet of adversarial multiplayer maps and the first episode of a new “zombies” tale, the company writes that the DLC will launch next February 2nd on PlayStation 4 first with “other next-gen platforms to follow.”
Semantics aside (“next-gen” is a misnomer here as the PS4 and Xbox One just celebrated their second birthdays), what we’ve left is that Activision is leaving folks who haven’t upgraded to new gaming consoles pretty far behind.
To be fair, even the official E3 announcement from Sony that PlayStation would get future map packs first didn’t specify which PlayStation they’d appear on. After Activision and developer Treyarch announced that the last-gen version Black Ops III would ship sans its slightly unorthodox campaign, I guess this isn’t all too surprising but it’s no less disappointing. Especially considering that earlier this year, Activision announced that on a monthly basis nearly 12 million people were still actively playing the three year-old Black Ops II — the game sitting at the top of the heap for Xbox One backwards compatibility requests by fans.
Via: Kotaku
Source: Businesswire
Bandai Namco sends its anime-inspired games west in 2016
Bandai Namco, the studio responsible for Dark Souls and Tekken, will expand some of its franchises in the western world with new installments in the Tales of, God Eater and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series. Tales of Berseria is a Japanese role-playing game starring a young woman named Velvet, whose left hand has special, demonic powers; it’s confirmed for PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam across the Americas and Europe. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven is a PS4-exclusive, two-on-two brawler starring characters from that franchise’s anime and manga storylines.
God Eater: Resurrection and God Eater 2: Rage Burst make their way west in the summer for PS4, Vita and PC. These are monster-battling action-RPGs set in an apocalyptic, alien-infested future, all with a decidedly anime twist. A new One Piece game, subtitled Burning Blood, hits PC via Steam, PS4, Vita and Xbox One next year as well. Last up, Bandai Namco has a Vita-only offering: Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs-Force, due in 2016. The new Mobile Suit Gundam features the series’ traditional two-on-two battles, plus it adds larger team battles.
Plex streaming app now free on Xbox and PlayStation
Plex, the app that helps a large number of folks organize and stream their media collections, is now available for free on Xbox and Playstation consoles. Up until now, it was in the preview stages and required a $5 per month or $40 per year Plex Pass. Users without the pass will now get the basic version of the app on the Xbox One, Xbox 360, Playstation 4 and PS3. With a pass, you’ll get extra features like premium music libraries, mobile sync and preview releases like the aforementioned console apps.
Most users install Plex on their PC or a “NAS” storage server, then stream media from it over other PCs or Macs, smartphones, streaming boxes like Android TV, smart TVs, Chromecast and consoles. It can play music and videos in any of the myriad formats that are out there, and transcode on the fly. You can also stream music whether you’re at home or on an internet or 3G/4G connection. If you’re already hooked up, you can install the app on your console and access your music library tout de suite. The app arrived to Apple TV last month.
Via: Microsoft News
Source: Plex
‘The Banner Saga’ pillages its way to PS4 and Xbox One soon
The Banner Saga‘s road to a console release has been a bit rocky, but the development team at Stoic has some good news: the excellent viking epic lands on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this coming January 12th. That’s pretty soon! In fact, the team’s efforts to make sure this isn’t just a quick and dirty console port are what’s caused the sequel’s delay from its originally promised 2015 launch. And actually, this porting process has worked to get the developers familiar with console hardware for future projects.Slideshow-349135
It’s something publisher Versus Evil mentions specifically in a prepared statement, no less. “With this latest achievement [the console port], the Stoic team is able to work on more platforms and reach more customers with its games and technology,” general manager Steve Escante says. “Looking ahead at what this could mean for Banner Saga 2 gets really exciting.” For an idea of what it’ll look like on your TV next year, check out the gallery up above.
‘P.T’ can return to your PS4 if you know the right tricks
When Konami cancelled Silent Hills as part of its broader retreat from top-tier video games, it was determined to burn bridges. It not only stopped offering the excellent P.T. teaser, but prevented people who had downloaded it from getting it again — if you wiped your PS4, there was a real chance P.T. was gone forever. However, it now looks like there might be light at the end of the dark, creepy tunnel. A Gamexeon forum member has discovered that it should be possible to re-download the horror mini-game by installing PC software that lets you access your PS4 library through a proxy server.
It’s not certain to work, and you may want to steer clear if you’re worried that you might hurt your PS4 or get booted off of the PlayStation Network (there are no reports of either happening so far as of this writing). Also, as the library access suggests, this should only work if you already downloaded P.T. at some point in the past. If you missed out and are wondering what all the fuss was about, you’re still out of luck. Nonetheless, this may be the gaming community’s best shot at preserving a fond gaming memory that’s in danger of disappearing.
Via: Polygon
Source: Gamexeon (translated)
Hideo Kojima’s first independent game is a PS4 exclusive
Konami’s loss is PlayStation’s gain: Tonight Sony announced an exclusive collaboration with legendary game developer Hideo Kojima, the auteur responsible for the Metal Gear and Zone of the Enders franchises. In the announcement video from PlayStation below, Kojima says that he’s making a new franchise that’ll be console-exclusive to the PlayStation 4. Sitting alongside him, PlayStation president Andrew House said that Sony will offer its “full support” on Kojima’s new project. And really, aside from the shiny new Kojima Productions logo, that’s about it in terms of details.
Considering that Kojima’s been a free agent for all of approximately five minutes at this point, the lack of information shouldn’t be much of a surprise following the very public departure from his last employer, Konami. Why Sony instead of Microsoft? Well, Kojima and the company go pretty far back. Metal Gear Solid was exclusive to the first PlayStation. Its sequel, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, had the same deal on the PlayStation 2 and most recently, P.T. was only available on PlayStation 4.
Now the guessing games begin: Just what is this new project going to be like? Hit the comments below for your best idea.
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) December 16, 2015
Source: PlayStation (YouTube)
Adorable puzzler ‘Unravel’ pulls heartstrings in February
Come February 9th, you’ll be able to play the most charming (and atypical) game to come out of Electronic Arts’ E3 media briefing this year, Unravel. The adorable physics-based puzzle platformer hits EA’s PC-based Origin service, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One next year as a digital title for $19.99 domestically. The prepared statement from EA describes the game’s story as “an adventure to reconnect the bonds of love” which, from the sounds of it, means I’m going to be a blubbering mess when the credits roll.
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“[Protagonist] Yarny’s quest is to mend broken bonds, and the yarn represents the love and connection between people,” developer Coldwood Interactive’s creative director Martin Sahlin says in the statement. So, more evidence that the small Swedish studio’s game is going to pull at my brittle heartstrings — kind of like Stockholm-based Starbreeze Studios’ wrenching Brothers. To see how Unravel’s progressed since its June debut, peep the screenshots up above and trailer just below.
Slow down time with PlayStation 4’s video editor update
Sony has an early gift for you this holiday season: more tools for its PlayStation 4 video editing app, Sharefactory. The electronics giant says that the ability to manipulate time has been among the most requested features and that’s where Time Bender comes in. With it, you can slow nature’s most effective killer down or implement time lapse to your gameplay footage. What’s more, Sony’s also increasing the number of clips that you can add to your masterpiece; the new limit’s 50 for video and 12 for music.
Oh, and Sony’s working on editing contests of sorts as well, dubbed Sharefactory Events. The first one’s in the works right now, and you can expect details of what game developers and publishers will expect for the inaugural event — in terms of creation requirements — fairly soon.
Sony’s also adding a few other bits and bobs including new scene transitions, filters, music tracks and the ability to layer stickers and text. The outfit says so far folks have crafted some 18.9 million videos so far with over 5.1 million downloads of the app itself. So, carry the one… that’s something like three videos per download in around seven months time. Remember though, when there are some 30 million PS4s that ratio is a little less impressive.
Source: PlayStation Blog
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