PlayStation

‘Final Fantasy VII Remake’ Gets Full Voice Casting, Mini-games & More

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 21, 2015 | 0 comments

A lot of new details have emerged about Final Fantasy VII Remake. As this point, it seems like we’re getting weekly updates from different divisions within Square Enix about what we can and can’t expect from the highly anticipated game. New revelations include

The game will have full voice overs, so characters that weren’t in Advent Children will need new voice actors. They haven’t been casted yet.
The date events will be fully voiced, but since the social situation is different from that in which the original game was launched, it will have have to be implemented carefully. Nomura-san also mentioned the Honey Bee Inn (laughing).
Info on the map cannot be provided yet, but the team isn’t worrying on whether it’s considered an open world or sandbox or not. Nomura-san is more interested in focusing on the environments and in showing how characters affect them.
Minigames that have left an impression with the fans will be included. The inclusion of the smaller ones will require consideration, as they all need to be developed with the latest tech.

More after the jump.

Epic ‘Uncharted 4’ Trailer Debuts in Front of Star Wars: The Force Awakens

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 21, 2015 | 0 comments

Depending on your cinema destination of choice, you may have seen an epic new trailer for Uncharted 4 in front of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Composed completely in CG, the new trailer does little to reveal anything new from the game and instead focuses on a single moment in time. Despite the scene in question only lasting a mere few seconds, Naughty Dog is beautifully able to convey a pretty good idea of what the Uncharted franchise is about and who Nathan Drake is, or isn’t.

The new Uncharted 4 trailer is after the jump.

PS4 Gets New ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops III’ Bundle

by Allegra Osati | Dec 18, 2015 | 0 comments

Don’t know what to get your loved one for Christmas but know they love gaming and Call of Duty? Well lucky for you, Sony has released a new PS4 Call of Duty: Black Ops III bundle. Priced at $349, the new bundle gets you

PS4 – 500 GB hard drive
DualShock 4
Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Blu-ray)
DLC map pack (NUK3TOWN) – arrives in 2016

Interestingly enough, the bundle was accidentally leaked by Amazon nearly 3 months ago but has never been released till now. Besides the CoD bundle, Sony has quite a few other options this holiday season, including Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Star Wars Battlefront bundles along side old favorites like the Destiny: The Taken King with a beautifully designed PS4.

‘Destiny’ Introduces Paid Level Boosters, Helps You Catch Up

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 17, 2015 | 0 comments

Designed to help old and new players alike, Bungie has introduced paid level boosters in Destiny that are now available for purchase on PSN. Priced at $30, the ‘Level 25’ packs can be bought for any of the classes (i.e. Titan, Warlock, Hunter) which immediately bring the character to level 25. Before you cry for all the grind you did to get to lv. 25 and beyond, with the latest DLC, The Taken King, a whole lot of work is still ahead of any gamer before they can reach light level 41.

Instead these paid boosters allow those new to the game to jump in a little faster and start hunting the Taken and Oryx or for more veteran players to more easily try different characters. While the price is a little more steep for my liking, (I’m thinking $19.99 is much more fair), it allows Bungie to make a little more money on the game in a fair way. After all, you’re more than welcome to get to level 25 with a new character, free of charge.

Hideo Kojima to Form New Gaming Company?

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 16, 2015 | 0 comments

Just a week ago, I ran a fun poll to see what studio you’d like Hideo Kojima to join once he had officially parted with Konami. While Naughty Dog was a contender with nearly 22% of the votes, a great number of you (36%) wanted to see the legendary developer create his own studios. Now it looks like your wish might be coming true. According to Japanese newspaper Nikkei Shinbun, Kojima has finally parted (aka his contract now allows him to fully walk away) from Konami and is looking to set up his own studio.

Best yet, it’s looking like he may pursue a PlayStation exclusive game. More after the jump.

Guerrilla Games is Seeking a Video Production Intern

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 15, 2015 | 0 comments

I don’t usually post these types of things but I have so much admiration and respect for the guys and gals at Guerrilla Games (Killzone, Horizon Zero Dawn) that I think anybody who can take advantage of this should. In short, the team over there is looking for a ‘video production intern’ to support their Community Management team.

The successful student will create compelling videos and broadcasts for use in our community efforts. You will produce trailers, teasers and behind-the-scenes videos that showcase the quality of our titles. In addition, you will shoot interviews with our developers and help stream them to online video platforms such as YouTube and Twitch.

Keep in mind that in order to take advantage of this, you have to reside in the Netherlands so there might be a slight logistical issue before you can throw your hat in the ring. Otherwise, if you can, I’d highly recommend taking advantage of the internship to learn from some of the best in the industry. More info after the jump.

PS4 Had the Best Month Ever in November, Tops NPD

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 14, 2015 | 0 comments

The official November 2015 NPD results are in and in short, PS4 had another stellar month. Perhaps more importantly, November was the best month for all hardware players which is a good sign for the industry as a whole.

November was the best month yet for hardware sales of the new platforms, as total hardware grew 11 percent to $1.12 billion, contributing to a two percent rise in overall industry sales which reached $2.47 billion (up two percent) for the month.

A sore spot for the entire industry has been mobile (PS Vita & 3DS). which continue to lose ground to games on smartphones and tablets.

Growth was driven by console hardware, up 14 percent, which offset a 31 percent decline in portable hardware. November 2015 marked the best month ever in total unit sales for 8th generation consoles (Xbox One, PS4, and Wii U), surpassing sales of December 2014 (now second-highest), and November 2014 (now third-highest).

So how well did PS4 do? Pretty well, it seems. More after the jump.

2016 PS4 First Party Lineup “Looks Incredible”

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 14, 2015 | 0 comments

Despite its raging success, one of the lower points for PS4 has been its contribution from first party developers. While we had a few titles in the first year like Killzone: Shadow Fall, inFamous: Second Son, and eventually The Order: 1886, most other first party devs at the company have been quiet. This is a stark contrast to PS3 where third party devs preferred the competition and the saving grace for the console was all the internal exclusive games. Michael Ephraim, Managing Director of Sony Computer Entertainment Australia, feels that things will be different in 2016.

Games that have been released this year, from Destiny, Call of Duty, Star Wars — most of them we have a collaboration with for additional content if you play on PlayStation 4. So we’re pretty confident with the way Christmas is going. The demand is strong.

His comments about PS4 titles in 2016 and other games we can look forward to are after the jump.

PSA: ‘Destiny: Sparrow Racing League’ Is Now Live

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 11, 2015 | 0 comments

Readers of the site know that I’m a huge Destiny fan. In fact, it’s pretty much what I’ve played all year long, due to its ability of allowing me to play for hours on end or just jump in for 15 to 20 minutes and still accomplish something. Having started on December 8th and lasting till December 29th, Bungie is introducing what we’ve all wanted from the beginning: Sparrow racing.

Dubbed the Sparrow Racing League, the free event is available for owners of The Taken King DLC. According to Bungie, anybody

who participate[s] will be able to earn rewards unique to the mode. This includes racing suits for their Guardian and new sparrows.

PlayStation platforms will have also have access to a timed-exclusive Sparrow Racing quest, which rewards a unique Sparrow.

After the jump, a trailer for the fun new mode which is part TRON, part WipEout, and both part awesome.

Behind the Scenes of ‘The Wonderful Life of a PS4 Player’ Ad

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 10, 2015 | 0 comments

A month or so ago, Sony released a cheeky ad in Europe dubbed ‘The Wonderful Life of a PS4 Player’ which featured a ton of PlayStation characters, dancing, and wonderful visuals. I’m not a huge fan of the ad as Sony’s had similar ad campaigns in the past. While wonderful for hardcore gamers catching all the references that are being lobbed at them, I’m not sure it does much to sell the console. Then again, with how well things are going for PS4, maybe Sony doesn’t need to push the console as much as keep the fanbase happy with content that’s very much geared at them.

The ad:

Whether you like the ad or not, after the jump, you’ll find a behind the scenes video on how the ad was constructed which is quite fascinating.

PlayStation VR Price and Release Date to Be Revealed in 2016

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 9, 2015 | 1 comment

A big part of PAX included a series of new games for PlayStation VR, the upcoming addition to PS4. We’ve already known for some time that PS VR would arrive in 2016 but we’ve never been given a time frame or price for that matter. Now, Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida has confirmed that we’ll get both of those things, just not this year.

These things we are not able to show as yet. We are working hard to prepare for the reveal of these features that we haven’t been able to talk about [for] PlayStation VR, as well as of course pricing and release date and what do you get when you buy the system.

A bit more details after the jump.

PlayStation Introduces Standalone Messaging App for iOS & Android

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 8, 2015 | 1 comment

Not intending on missing on the messenger train, Sony has launched a standalone PlayStation messaging app for iOS and Android.

Here at PlayStation® we are continuously enhancing our products to improve players’ experiences and help connect players to their friends. Today we are happy to introduce a new messaging app – PlayStation®Messages. This new app helps you contact your Friends in a quicker and easier way than ever before.

More info about PlayStation Messages after the jump.

PSX Was Always Intended to End Awkwardly

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 8, 2015 | 0 comments

PlayStation Experience in my mind was a wild beast. Games aside, which I think had plenty to offer in all the genres, ranging from sports to RPG and FPS, I found the show on PlayStation 4 and the infrastructure that’s suppose to support it a technical mess. The same goes for PlayStation’s ability to deliver a keynote which many felt ended extremely awkward. I wrote

I’m not sure if Sony was thinking that Paragon was a mic drop type of game, but even if it was, you should still really end the show with a little more clarity.

Part of me can’t imagine that nobody thought of that and would like to think that something had to be cut at the very bleeding last second or that a page of the script was lost. Still, all it would have taken for the show to end properly was to have somebody from PlayStation, perhaps Shawn Layden (President & CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America), who kicked off the show, to take stage for just a minute, even as a complete improv to end things much more meaningfully.

Well according to Shawn Layden, the show ended exactly how they wanted it. More on that after the jump.

‘Final Fantasy VII Remastered’ on PS4 Priced at $10.87 for Limited Time

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 7, 2015 | 0 comments

As you’re likely aware, during the weekend at PSX, Square Enix showed off the first official (non-teaser) trailer from the Final Fantasy VII Remake. What makes the trailer especially noteworthy is that it’s the first time we’ve seen the game running on a PS4 with gameplay footage. Like E3, fans were quick to lose their mind and soon after that, were ready to be punched in the gut as we expect these days from Square.

While the E3 presentation was pure bliss, it was soon revealed to the dismay of many that this won’t be a direct remake of FF7 and that Square will make changes to the game, including storyline tweaks and gameplay mechanical chances. Over the weekend, we saw some of that which moves the game away from ATB system to a more, action based RPG. Think along the lines of Kingdom Hearts. However the biggest controversy since then is the reveal that once released, FF7 will come in multiple parts that will likely span a few years. It’s unclear how many parts and how much each part will cost.

This article isn’t necessarily about that because I still haven’t fully considered all the pros and cons of such a move. However, it feels timely to point out that during the weekend, Final Fantasy VII Remastered was made available on PS4: basically the original game which was released a few years later on PC with some slightly better graphics and minor fixes. So if you’re looking to relive the original in as pure of a form as you can, you either purchase the original PSone version for $9,99 or this version for $10.87 for a limited time. Once the deal is gone, the game will shoot back up to its normal $15.99 price.

A little more after the jump.

PlayStation Experience – A Technical Mess

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 5, 2015 | 8 comments

Earlier today, the second annual PlayStation Experience keynote kicked off, designed to headline PlayStation exclusive content and build more excitement around the brand prior the ever important holiday shopping season. While hard to follow up with what many would arguably call the best E3, PlayStation Experience had enough content to hold its own. From Destiny Sparrow Racing League to Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom and a plethora of games for PlayStation VR and PlayStation Vita (remember that thing?), there was plenty to be seen at PSX.

But games aren’t the topic of discussion for this article and instead Sony’s own business is. Despite leading a multi-billion dollar industry, PlayStation Experience perhaps best showed the infrastructure immaturity of PlayStation and its inability to deliver on scale. As games mature and expand beyond what you do in your basement to cutting edge graphics, design, and now virtual reality, the mechanism on how they are presented remains archaic at best and Sony is a huge culprit. Let me explain.