RipTen Videogame Blog » Sony-PlayStation-3

PlayStation Plus: Not as Bad as You Originally Thought

Dylan Duarte — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:05:00 +0000

With the announcement of PlayStation Plus at E3, gamers were afraid all of their free stuff was going the way of the Dodo. That isn’t the case, and the new subscription service actually seems pretty cool.

First off, everything that’s currently free on PSN with remain free. They have no plans on reducing the free service. Of course, this could always change, but as of right now it’s all good.

PlayStation Plus launches on June 29th with two options for payment: three months for $17.99 ($6 a month) or a year for $49.99. If you buy a year, it comes with three free months, so it’s a little over $3 a month.

With your payment, you get free monthly games, discounts in the PS Store, special offers on demos, betas, and early purchases, full game trials (I’ll get to these in a second), and automatic downloads.

The free games is the biggest draw. In the first month, subscribers will get WipEout HD, PSP Minis, Fieldrunners, Age of Zombies, and Rally Cross. These games are available for download for free until they’re replaced with a new selection the following month, but once you download them, they’re yours to keep as long as you subscribe to the service.

When I first heard the line “as long as you subscribe” it really didn’t sit well with me, but given that these games come free with the pretty low fee, I think it’s more than fair. Especially when you consider that all the games you get the first month are almost a $40 value combined.

The offers range from exclusive themes and game add-ons (that you get to keep forever) to discounts in the PlayStation Store.

The full game trials, the first of which is InFamous, lets players play the full game for a limited amount of time (usually an hour) and if they decide to purchase it after that, they can pick up right where they left off. This may not be that big of a deal, but it’s better than your standard demos.

Finally, automatic downloads will allow your PS3 to come out of standby to download new demos, games updates, etc, and then go back into sleep mode all by itself. No word yet on whether it came come alive at night and kill you in your sleep.

All in all, PlayStation Plus actually seems pretty damn nifty. I don’t know if we’ll get four games each month, they may just be kicking it off with a bang, but I love the idea and I’ll probably wind up playing some games I normally wouldn’t have.

My one complaint so far is no option to pay for a single month at a time, which would be great for those of us that are financially irresponsible and only have little bits of money at a time.

(PlayStation Blog)

PS3 Development Making 360 Games Better

John Landis — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:32:21 +0000

Sony Computer Entertainment America’s VP of product marketing, Scott Steinberg, in an interview over at Gameindustry.biz, has stated that he thinks more and more developers will be switching to the PS3 as their foremost development console, and that will be making multiplatform games better as a result.

We see the development just now starting to get going. We’re now in our third and fourth generations with first party, and that will start to create some distance with the competition – from our standpoint – but as the third parties begin to move their development to native PS3 and port down to other platforms, they’ll start to see their games’ fidelity getting better and better – and in fact I think even Xbox 360 games will start to look better as a result.

There’s a historical fact of having the [Xbox 360] dev kits first, so there’s the thought of porting down to the late arrivals, but I think that Burnout [Paradise] is a great example of a game that shipped fairly recently that showed what you can do if you start originally on PS3, and we’ve seen and heard more of that from our third party publisher relations group.

As they realise that if you start on the PS3 other platforms look better, it starts to become a no-brainer.

It makes sense if you think about it. Considering it’s more difficult to develop games for the PS3, it can only help multiplatform games if they go for the more difficult path first.

Source: Gamesindustry.biz

Sony Announces Massive Action Game for PS3 – 256 Players Online

Dylan Duarte — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:02:10 +0000

Sony unveiled MAG (Massive Action Game) today from Zipper Interactive. It’s an online squad-based action game that can support up to 256 players.

Our very own Andrew Podolsky was there in person and vies us our rundown of the trailer:

Has that same yellowy-brown, washed out look of Call of Duty 4, and Resistance 2. Plus lots of Tom Clancy style overlays. We see a commander’s view of hundreds of soldiers on the field, plus lots of graet closeups of firefights and tank battles.

This game looks sweet, if this is in fact in-game footage. The camera is whipping around as soldiers target eachother. Since there are so many, there’s a lot of pray and spray. After the battles, the dead litter the ground. Airstrikes are called in, with paratroopers. And that’s the end of MAG.

No release date as of yet, but the game certainly looks promising. 256 players? That’s going to be a massive workout for the PSN and PS3.

PS3 Users Experience Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Online Issues

Dylan Duarte — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:22:30 +0000

It seems that while the Ubisoft team was out hunting for Easter eggs, their servers went out with them.

Multiple PS3 users are complaining about serious connection and lag issues while playing Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 online over the weekend.

I think it’s safe to say that the Ubisoft team is probably aware of the issue and it’s more than likely being resolved as I type this.

As of now, no other games are reportedly having issues.

Source: PSX Extreme

Limited Edition PS3 On the Way with MGS4 Bundle

Dylan Duarte — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:35:55 +0000

Back in February when news first hit about a Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 bundle, we speculated that it would include a limited edition console. It looks like that speculation was correct.

A google translation of a Japanese news tidbit says that it’s a special “steel” colored model that also comes with a 3-dual shock controller. The Japanese release date is June 12th, 2008.

Source: NeoGaf

February 2008 NPD Data

Dylan Duarte — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 01:33:04 +0000

Call of Duty 4 once again leads the pack in software sales.

The NPD numbers are in for February and both Microsoft and Sony give their little twists on things. Hit the jump to check out the results.

February was a good month for video games, as both hardware and software sales were above expectations. 1.1799 million hardware units were sold, beating out the expected 1.602 units. This strong growth came from Nintendo DS sales; 427,300 units were expected to sell but the total end number was 587,600.

The Playstation 3 sold 280,800 units, outselling the Xbox 360 yet again, which sold 254,600 units. The PS3 outdid expectations by 411%, while the 360 underperformed by 2.33%.

This is where the PR battle starts. Microsoft claims that the 360 still had some supply issues, accounting for the loss. Aaron Greenberg, Xbox 360 group product manager, actually told Next-Gen:

“Our expectation is that because of our shortages at retail during February, we will sell less than PS3.”

He goes on to call Sony’s win a “hollow victory.” Sony obviously didn’t see it that way, boasting that “PS3 Sales Eclipse Xbox 360 for Second Straight Month,” without acknowledging Microsoft’s supposed supply issues.

Sony also reminds us that GTA IV, Gran Turismo 5, MGS 4: Guns of the Patriots, as well as many other large titles are on the way, so they’re only getting started.

And then way ahead of the pack is the Nintendo Wii, which sold 432,000 units, 31,300 more units than expected.

Finally, the Sony Playstation Portable underperformed by 4.71%, selling 243,100 units.

Software sales fared even better than hardware, beating out the expected sales by $76.7 million, coming in at $668.7 million. Software sales have also increased 47% from February of last year.

Call of Duty 4 took the top spot once again with the Xbox 360 version selling 296, 200 units. Devil May Cry 4 under whelmed on both consoles, selling 295,200 units on 360 and 233,500 on the PS3. The predicted numbers were 438,400 and 272,600.

Sales of newer titles such as Lost Odyssey, Turok, and Frontlines: Fuel of War more or less met expectations.

Sources: Simexchange, the bitbag, next-gen

Resident Evil 5 in October?

Dylan Duarte — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 03:36:33 +0000

Chris Redfield is back in Resident Evil 5

According to both gaming magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly and gaming website PSU, we may see Resident Evil 5 before this holiday season – maybe even as early as October.

The latest issue of EGM contained rumors the Capcom plans to release Resident Evil 5 either before or during the upcoming holiday season. Now PSU has come out to say that they’ve heard that we could see the game as soon as October of this year.

Resident Evil 5 is due out on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The game puts you back in the shoes of former S.T.A.R.S member Chris Redfield, who many fans will remember as one of the main protagonists of the original Resident Evil.

Resident Evil 5 will feature much of the same camera and control scheme from its predecessor. The game takes place in the African Desert.

Source: PSU

Limited Edition MGS4 Playstation 3 Model in the Works?

Dylan Duarte — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:32:31 +0000

What’s under that question mark?!

Based on a few news stories that came rolling in today, it looks like we may be seeing a Limited Edition Metal Gear Solid 4 Playstation 3 pretty soon. Say that ten times fast.

The picture above is from Dengeki Playstation magazine. The picture shows the upcoming PS3 bundle. The PS3 unit is blacked out with a question mark over it.

That, coupled with the information reported today that stated we’ll be seeing the “look” of the bundled PS3 on March 21st, I think there’s a good chance that a Limited Edition console is on the way.

MGS4: Official Worldwide Release 06/12, Website Relaunch Tomorrow

Dylan Duarte — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:21:32 +0000

Building off of what Geoff Haugan reported on earlier, it looks like June 12th, 2008, is in fact the official worldwide release date for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. And that’s straight from Kojima’s mouth.

Aside from the game hitting shelves in less than 4 months, we also got a few more juicy tidbits.

Pricing for the different versions of the game and the look of the bundled PS3 will be released on March 21st. The TGS ’07 trailer will hit the Japanese PSN store on February 29th.

Also, the special edition disc contains trailers and making-of videos.

The Metal Gear Online starter pack will contain 5 maps, but it doesn’t look like all of them (or any) will be new. Also, MGO expansions will come with new character packs and maps.

Finally, the official site for the game will be seeing a relaunch on February 29th. That’s tomorrow!

New Bourne Conspiracy Trailer

Dylan Duarte — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:22:50 +0000

The idea of a Bourne videogame completely free of Matt Damon worried me. As far as I’m concerned, Damon is Bourne. That said, the trailer looks pretty awesome and the voice actor – while no Damon – sounds cool in his own right.

[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://youtube.com/watch?v=QhEHC_xSy-c[/youtube]

3 New Grand Theft Auto IV Screens

Dylan Duarte — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:08:29 +0000

Three new screenshots of Grand Theft Auto IV have surfaced thanks to Best Buy.

These are only low resolutions shots, but hopefully higher res ones will pop-up soon. The lighting in the second screenshot just screams “crime drama” to me and I couldn’t be more excited. Or could I?

Via GTA4.net

Download and Watch Blu-Ray Movies on Your PSP

Dylan Duarte — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:55:05 +0000

Things are looking good for the Playstation Portable. Hot on the heels of the announcement that PSP users will be able to use Skype, we learn that the PSP will be able to download and play Blu-Ray movies.

Certain Blu-Ray discs will include special versions of the film made specifically for the PSP. Gamers can insert the disc into their Playstation 3, connect to the handheld, and copy a special lower-resolution version of the movie onto the PSP’s memory stick.

Sony hasn’t said which films – or how many – will include the specially optimized versions. They also haven’t clarified whether or not this ability is limited to only those with a Playstation 3. Let’s hope that isn’t the case.

Via Wired

New Rock Band Accessories Courtesy of Mad Catz

Dylan Duarte — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 01:52:21 +0000

MTV has struck a deal with Mad Catz, a popular manufacturer of videogame accessories, to allow the company to start producing Rock Band peripherals.

Mad Catz expects to start releasing products in the first half of 2008. The products will include a wired microphone, a drum kit, and wired and wireless bass guitars.

Mad Catz CEO Darren Richardson comments:

“This agreement with MTV Games represents a natural opportunity for Mad Catz to combine our core competencies of producing and distributing high-quality accessories with the entertaining experience of Rock Band’s interactive controllers. Mad Catz will produce premium instruments, allowing gamers and music fans to experience music in an entirely new light while taking on the personality of their favorite music idols.”

I’m excited to see what Mad Catz whips up, but for folks who have already purchased the bundle, I can’t see them buying anything other than an additional guitar. That being said, the original Rock Band equipment did have its fair share of problems, so it’ll be good to have a cheaper, third-party option if you find yourself needing to replace some hardware.

Via The Escapist

Final Fantasy XIII and Versus Scans From OPM UK

Dylan Duarte — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:36:43 +0000

Official Playstation Magazine UK features Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII in their Big 10 Stories in their latest issue. It doesn’t offer much in terms of new info, but it provides a good summary of everything that’s been released so far, as well as some nice screenshots. Hit the jump to see the scans.

I’ll admit, I’ve never been a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series, but I’m really digging the science fiction elements that XIII seems to offer, so consider me interested.

Via Final Fantasy-XIII.net

PSP Doubles Japanese Sales; Still Not Close to DS Sales

Dylan Duarte — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:27:24 +0000

For the week ending December 9th, the Sony PSP sold 91,481 units in Japan. The next week, ending on the 16th, it managed to more than double that number with 184, 610 units sold. Surely it’s catching to the Nintendo DS in sales, right?

While it’s closer than it was, the Nintendo DS still outsold the PSP by almost 40,000 units, with a total of 222,144 sales for the week ending December 16th. To top it off, 28 DS titles placed in the top 50 best-sellers.

As for the other video game systems, the Nintendo Wii took the lead of the home consoles with 170,558, the PS3 came in second with 63,720 units moved, 18,025 Playstation 2 units were sold, and the Xbox Box 360 trailed behind everyone with only 8,561 systems sold.

Poor Billy Gates just can’t catch a break, can he?

Via The Escapist