PlayStation Now’s game streaming beta comes to PS4
Back in January we were impressed by just how well Sony’s PlayStation Now game-streaming service worked, and the chance to test it out yourself could be coming rather soon. The closed beta program is making its way to the PlayStation 4 on May 20th (tomorrow!), according to the PS Blog, invites for new testers will be making their way select inboxes shortly. What’s more, the outfit also says that it’s opening the service’s PS3 beta to more users as well. If you haven’t thrown your last-gen console out just yet, this might be another reason to keep it around for a bit longer.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Sony
Source: PlayStation Blog
Joystiq Weekly: ‘Mario Kart 8’ in review, co-op ‘Killzone’ and a new Jurassic tour
Welcome to the Joystiq Weekly wrap-up where we present some of the best stories and biggest gaming news from our sister-publication.
- Killzone: Shadow Fall is getting a co-op wave-based survival mode this year, and it’s free for season pass holders.
- One man is on a mission to recreate Electronic Arts’ failed attempt at an open-world Jurassic Park game, Trespasser, with modern tools and it looks pretty incredible.
Despite an unfortunate change to its battle mode, Mario Kart 8 is a solid extra lap on a series with a great foundation. The gravity-shifting sections spliced into existing and new tracks feel like a natural extension of the series rather than a gameplay-changing revelation, but it’s a strong complement to an already enjoyable experience. The social features are surprisingly solid and may even outlive the total course selection, but it helps that the new tracks feel as worthy of a revisit as the series’ standouts.
That’s it for this week folks! Check back next Sunday for another recap, or head over to Joystiq and catch the news as it happens.
[Image credit: Matias Brum/Flickr]
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Nintendo
Source: Joystq
Sony reaps benefit of PS4 and Xperia sales, but forecasts further bleeding
There are few surprises in Sony’s full-year earnings figures, especially since we’ve already covered the huge loss it suffered in pulling out of the PC business. However, although overall profit is heavily in the red, the detailed numbers show healthy gains in precisely the two departments where we’d hope to see them: Gaming-related sales shot up 53 percent on the back of the PS4, while Xperia smartphone sales rose by around 20 percent to just shy of 40 million units for the year ended March 31st. Sony doesn’t specify phone sales by model, but the year-over-year gain strikes us as a fair and just reward for the manufacturer’s excellent Xperia Z1 and Z1 Compact (shown above). Unfortunately, none of this success looks likely to fix Sony’s deeper ailments any time soon, because the company is still forecasting further heavy losses throughout 2014. It predicts a net loss of 50 billion yen over the coming year, whereas most pundits had expected the ship to be righted and profitable by then.
Source: Sony
Watch Dogs won’t hit 1080p on either PlayStation 4 or Xbox One
The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are both plenty powerful, but so far, many third-party games have ended up running better on Sony’s console. That trend apparently continues later this month with Ubisoft’s upcoming cyberpunk hackathon, Watch Dogs. The PS4 may have the upper hand in terms of native resolution as Joystiq noticed, but the game will run at 30fps (the gold standard for open-world games) on both platforms and neither will sport 1080p natively according to publisher Ubisoft. This is contrary to what a PlayStation.com listing said before it vanished over the weekend. The adventures of Aiden Pearce will run at 900p for Sony fans, while Xbox One owners will see 792p on their flat-screens. Because both consoles will upscale the game and output it to your display’s native resolution, it’s a difference you might only notice if both versions are running side-by-side. If you’ll remember, Assassin’s Creed 4 shipped on the PS4 at 900p as well, and received an update to hit full HD after the game launched — we’ll be watching to see if that happens here, too.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Sony, Microsoft
Via: Joystiq
Source: UbiBlog
Old console, new tricks: Getting the most out of your PS3
Already paid up for Sony’s PlayStation 4? Or are you waiting on a certain blockbuster title before you make the move to the next gen? We don’t blame you. However, the PS4′s ancestor — that slightly curved obelisk sitting under your TV, the one with half an inch of dust — still has a few tricks in it. While we wait for Sony to perfect its streaming tech, there’s still no way to play PS3 titles on Console No. 4, unless it gets a fancy facelift… and you buy it again. So, we turn back to our faithful PlayStation 3. Born in 2006, eight years is a pretty good term for a games console. But maybe you don’t want your time with it to be over. We don’t either, and have found a few ways to breathe new life into your gradually graying PS3.
Get a PlayStation Plus subscription
Really, this should be in past tense: Because you should have gotten in on this surprisingly high-value service a year ago. PlayStation Plus is really that good. For under 10 bucks a month (down to $5 per month if you sign up for a year), you’re offered an “instant game collection” that’s updated every 30 days or so, and that one fee gives you access on every compatible console (PS3, Vita and PS4). As of this writing, the library includes BioShock Infinite, Payday 2, Uncharted 3, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and eight more PS3 titles. Free games rotate in and out each month, but if you “buy” it to download (even if you didn’t download right then), you can play it for as long as your sub lasts — not just when it’s part of the selection. Past titles (depending on region) have included Super Street Fighter IV, Infamous 2, LittleBigPlanet 2, Far Cry 3, Assassin’s Creed III, to name a few. Yeah, more titles than you’d probably ever have time to play, but the service typically delivers something we actually want to play nearly every month. Since launch, a total of 138 PS3 games and a host of PS1 games have been available on the service.
Protip: The “instant game collection” on PS Plus differs from region to region. There are more mainstream titles coming to US and European subscribers, but the Japanese one (you’ll need to pick up some yen-based PlayStation Network credit to buy your sub), has a ridiculous archive of original PlayStation (and, er, PC Engine) games. Are most of them in Japanese? Yes. Did we get a handful of free PS3 games (Shadow of the Colossus HD) games in the process? Oh yes.
Upgrade the PS3′s hard drive
Rather than delete your downloads to make space for new ones, why not expand? Go from 20GB to 300GB. For your shopping list, you’ll need a 2.5-inch internal SATA drive. Many tinkerers suggest one that spins at 5,400 RPM to match the PS3′s original drive and to keep the new one from running too hot. It’s not plug-in-and-play simple — you can’t just pull out the smaller HDD, insert a new one into the PS3 Slim and play away. After backing up your current setup with the console’s backup utility, you’ll need to remove a few screws and gingerly switch out the drives. The only tricky part is remembering to put a system update file on a USB stick alongside your backup data. Thankfully, SCE has provisioned all the instructions needed here, for all three hardware iterations. Make sure you know what you’re doing here, too. Proceed at your own risk, although despite our apprehension, our own installation went without a hitch.
Protip: You saw our first suggestion right? May as well throw in a 500GB — nah, make it a 1TB drive. Game download binge.
Use the (much better) PS4 controller with your PS3
Sony’s newest DualShock is just so much better. It’s more comfortable, looks better and even comes with a smartphone-baiting touch panel and share button, although those last two features aren’t going to work here. The rest of the controller, surprisingly, does work. There are some caveats: There’s no PS button, so it’s really only for use during a game, and it won’t connect to the PS3 wirelessly — you’ll have to keep it tethered while you play. Handily, Reddit users have also compiled a list of games that will (and won’t) work with a PS4 DualShock, and for the fantasists among you, you can pretend that you’re playing on a PS4.
Protip: Did you know that if you put a PS4 game disc into the PS3… nothing really happens? Did you even read the intro? C’mon.
Try PS3 Remote Play on the PS Vita (but don’t depend on it)
Yeah, the PS3 did it first. Unfortunately, it didn’t work all that well. On the PS4, Remote Play is fully functional, but on its predecessor, the feature is limited. That said, the HD remasters of Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and the God of War Collection are all worth playing through on a handheld. Should you do so, we advise staying well within range of the nearest WiFi router — in our experience, Remote Play on PS3 is temperamental, particularly when you lack a robust wireless signal.
Protip: Give it at least four tries. If you liked the experience, well, maybe you should buy a PS4.
Sony built the PlayStation 4’s controller with VR in mind
You may think that Sony built its Project Morpheus virtual reality headset to accommodate the PlayStation 4′s DualShock 4 controller, but it turns out that the opposite is true — the gamepad was designed for VR from the start. The company’s Jed Ashforth tells TechRadar that the Morpheus team insisted on building the always-on (and occasionally irksome) light bar into the DualShock for its purposes, and had to remain silent about its real objectives until the VR helmet’s unveiling this March. The move isn’t completely surprising given Sony’s tendency to use PlayStations as technology launching pads — see the PS3′s Blu-ray drive as an example. Still, it’s good to know that the controller was designed for much, much more than motion-based experiences like The Playroom.
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Sony
Source: TechRadar
Sony hopes Michael Jackson’s legacy can boost its streaming music service
Sony sure knows how to dangle a carrot in front of its customers. In a not-so-subtle use of music industry clout to drive its technology business, the company is offering access to five of Xscape‘s tunes on its Music Unlimited streaming service days before the album’s official debut (May 13th in the US). Meanwhile, iTunes and other services are getting one early song at best.
Sony is milking the release for all it’s worth on other platforms, too. You can head to the PlayStation Store to check out a behind-the-scenes video, and buying an Xperia Z2 in Canada and other regions will get you a full download of MJ’s album as soon as it’s available. Are all these promotional stunts going to help Sony’s less-than-stellar financials? Probably not all that much, but at least a Music Unlimited trial is free — and if signing up is still too much of a hassle, you can always listen to the first Xscape single below.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, Sony
Source: PlayStation Blog
Rock Band team hits Kickstarter to fund a remake of its cult classic, Amplitude
The team behind Rock Band and Dance Central wants to return to its roots, but needs your help to do so. That’s right, Harmonix Music Systems is revisiting the PlayStation 2 cult classic Amplitude and have turned to Kickstarter to fund development. Harmonix says that while making Rock Band, the plan was to use the new beat-matching tools it developed for that game and apply them to a sequel to its classic rhythm title. That fell by the wayside, however, as publisher-funded games naturally took priority over a passion project. For the new version, Harmonix plans to apply the improvements afforded by the last 11 years (namely: widescreen HDTVs, more powerful consoles, the development team’s talent) and marry them with the original’s game-play. Because Sony still owns the property, the game’s only been announced for PS3 and PS4 release, though. One aspect of the original that won’t make the cut, however, is online play — you’ll have to make due with leaderboards and local multiplayer.
If that isn’t too much of a deal-breaker, admission starts at $20 for a download code upon the game’s release, or $40 for an advance copy. The backer rewards get crazier the higher the pledge amount. If you pledge $8,000 the team will come to your house and throw a party (seriously). Ten grand gets you airfare to Massachusetts, a night’s hotel stay, a jam session with the Harmonix band, a studio tour and a helicopter tour of Boston. Neither of those have been claimed as of this writing, but the campaign still has a long ways to go in its 18 days. Amplitude has raised almost $80,000 in its first day, but that’s a far cry from the $775,000 funding goal. With the amount of irons Harmonix has in the fire — including Disney’s Fantasia: Music Evolved and Chroma – let’s hope that if the game is fully funded that the team can make sure it comes out on time. After all, we’ve seen other gaming projects with lower monetary ambitions stumble along the way to release.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Via: Joystiq
Source: Kickstarter
Game values your PS3 and five games at £100 in console upgrade promotion
A long bank holiday weekend is the perfect excuse to spend a little bit more time than you would normally in front of your TV, controller in hand. If the impending opportunity to do just that has you mulling an investment in one of Microsoft or Sony’s newest consoles, then retailer Game is happy to nudge you in that direction with a trade-in promotion that takes at least £100 of the console asking prices. From today (May 2nd) until next Thursday (May 8th), bringing a 250GB or 320GB PS3 slim and five games into a Game store will allow you to leave with a PS4 for £250 (£100 off the regular price). Similarly, you can swap a 250GB Xbox 360 slim, five games and £270 for an Xbox One plus Titanfall (a £110 saving).
As attractive as those discounted prices are, however, we’d have trouble letting go of a console and five games for a fraction of their purchase price. It’s a convenient way of stepping up a generation, sure, but it’s Game who’s getting the better end of the deal. We’re not saying you’ll get massively improved offers for the same gear elsewhere, but is nostalgia worth nothing to you monsters?
Filed under: Gaming, Sony, Microsoft
Via: MCV
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare trailer features futuristic action, Kevin Spacey
With Call of Duty being one of the most successful game franchises out there, you know there’s always going to be a next one. Well, the first trailer for that game has dropped, revealing its full title of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and Kevin Spacey. The House of Cards actor appears to be cast in the role of a powerful, politically driven antihero (how original), but what we’re more interested in is the little hints of new and changing gameplay elements. Just as CoD 4: Modern Warfare brought the series out of the WWII era, Advanced Warfare will send us further into the future, as the presence of spider tanks, hover bikes, the ‘copters from Avatar and weaponized exoskeletons suggests. The trailer shows super jumping too many times for it not to be one of the new mechanics, which we assume will be joined by cloaking and a perk that lets you see through walls — it looks something like the Active Radar Pulse from Titanfall in the fleeting clip, if you’ve been playing any of that recently. There’s also soldiers shown scaling walls with special gloves and unravelling a section of plantable cover, but as the whole trailer is shot cut-scene style, there’s no telling what gameplay elements you will actually be able to use, and whether they’ll be single-player or multiplayer only.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is being developed by Activision and Sledgehammer Games, a lesser-known studio that had a hand in creating Modern Warfare 3. This trailer footage comes from an Xbox One, but you can bet Advanced Warfare will also come to the PS4 and PCs, at the very least. With the hype train now rolling, you can bet we’ll be hearing a lot more about the game before its release date of November 4th this year. Trailer below the fold.
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony, Microsoft
Source: YouTube
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