E3 10: Sony Conference

And the last major company conference recap is here. Microsoft was lack-luster, Nintendo impressed... so how did Sony fair?

Gameplay montage shown to start the show

Killzone 3
- Live demo shown in 3D
- Graphically it's still ridiculously amazing
- Coming February 2011
- Functional with PlayStation Move at launch

Other 3D games
- MotorStorm Apocalypse
- Gran Turismo 5
- The Sly Collection
- Crysis 2
- Mortal Kombat
- Tron: Evolution
- amongst other 1st and 3rd Party games

PlayStation Move
- Available in Europe September 15
- Available in North America September 19
- Available in Eapan October 21
- Move controller alone for $49.99
- Analog controller for $29.99
- Move with PSEye and Sports Champions for $99
- Move, PSEye, Sports Champions, and 120 GB PS3 for $399

Sorcery
- 3rd Person Action/Adventure game
- 1:1 wand control
- Move's bulb changes color to indicate actions
- Coming Spring 2011

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11
- Yawn... show more exclusives please
- Wii golf in HD basically
- Update available via PSN at launch

Heroes on the Move
- Combines Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, and Sly Cooper
- Action/Avdenture game featuring Move control

Kevin Butler just appeared on stage, talking trash about Cirque du Soleil and Kinect; gives a speech about Move and PS3.

Montage of Move games shown, but I lost track. And a reveal of PSP's new, Kevin Butler-esque "Step Your Game Up." ad campaign.

God of War: Ghost of Sparta
- For PSP from Ready At Down Studios
- Releasing "later this year"

Another game montage shown, this time of recently released and coming soon PSP titles.

PlayStation Network
- Season 2 of The Tester starts casting today for a premiere this fall
- Entire E3 2010 booth has been recreated for Home

LittleBigPlanet 2
- Able to make games from nearly every genre
- Looks pretty damn fantastic
- But, we saw the trailer already, so it's not anything shocking anymore

PlayStation Plus
- New subscription service, on top of all the already free features
- Early access to demos and betas, and 'free' PSN games (PSN games, Minis, and PSone titles) and PSN discounts
- Full year for $49.99 or 3-Months for $17.99
- First three months free for a limited time
- Will include Qore subscription
- All content lasts for the duration of your subscription

Medal of Honor
- Releases October 12, 2010
- PS3 limited edition includes HD remake of Medal of Honor: Frontline

Dead Space 2
- Live demo shown, continuing from last night's EA conference
- PS3 exclusive comes with Dead Space: Extraction, now with Move support

Portal 2
- Notable PS3 hater Gabe Newell appears!
- Utilizes Steam Cloud and automatic updates, making it 'the best version' for consoles
- New trailer shown
- Coming 2011
- Now I regret getting excited about Steam for Mac, since it runs poorly

Final Fantasy XIV Online
- New trailer shown

Mafia II
- PS3 exclusive content available free at launch

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
- PS3 version will have exclusive mission pack and multiplayer beta
- New trailer shown
- Releases November 16th, 2010

Yet another gameplay montage is shown.

Gran Turismo 5
- New trailer shown
- Releases November 2, 2010
- Fully 3D at launch

inFAMOUS 2
- New trailer shown
- Character has hair now, congrats
- And ice power in addition to electricity

Twisted Metal
- Sweettooth and his truck are on-stage
- From David Jaffe's Eat.Sleep.Play. studio
- Releasing next year
- Live demo shown
- Adds flight to the series

And... that's it, I guess.

The Move pricing seems somewhat reasonable considering the functionality it adds, and considering a standard DualShock 3 runs for $50. But, asking $30 for the analog controller seems excessive... and that's $30 on top of $99 if you don't already have a PSEye, which is basically everyone, making it a $130 investment for a complete 1 player package. But hey, at least they gave us a price and release date, which can't be said for Microsoft and Kinect.

Not a bad conference, but it dragged on a lot, and I could've done without all the montages. Plus, aside from Portal 2, there weren't any big surprises. I'm just really mad that The Last Guardian wasn't even shown or mentioned. Like, that's really the one PS3 title I've wanted to see more of, and it wasn't even muttered...

PixelJunk Shooter Review

I bought Monsters far too late to review it, and Eden I bought at release but never got around to reviewing it. But I'm not going to let that happen to Q-Games' latest entry into the PixelJunk series, PixelJunk Shooter, and perhaps my most favorite game in the series yet.

Just a slight note, the screens SCEA had available are from what seems to be a really early build of the game. For a better reflection of how the game actually looks, check the video I recorded and included in this review.

Story
Because of the nature of the PixelJunk games, story has never been a huge factor. In this sense, Shooter is no different, although there's actually some sort of back story this time around that deals with a group of scientists investigating a mysterious planet, and it's up to you to rescue them. Nothing inventive, but something that gives the player motivation and something that gives the game a point.

Gameplay
The gameplay of PixelJunk Shooter relies not only on the titular shooting mechanics, but also puzzle solving with elements. The game itself is divided into three 'episodes,' each with their own levels, and each level is divided into sections. With each episode comes new elements and mechanics to deal with; so while the games first chapter only deals with lava and water, come the game's second chapter you'll be dealing with lava, ice, water, and gas, and figuring out how they all interact. But you're not just going around messing with elements, and fighting off enemies, but you'll also be rescuing scientists and collecting treasure. Come the end of each episode there's a huge boss battle, but they rely as much of the elemental features as they do with shooting... making the name more fitting.


Control-wise the game is quite simple. L1 and L2 (you're choice) are used to pick up scientists and items, and R1 and R2 (once again, it's preference) are used to shoot; flight is controlled with the left stick, and the angle at which you shoot is on the right stick, and it seems to work with ease. If anything, I found the gameplay and the progression of Shooter to be much more user friendly than that of Monsters and Eden. It really bothered me that for games that relied on simplicity would become so frustrating/unforgiving at early points in the game; Shooter has seemingly remedied that issue by having no time restraints, brutal enemies, or life limits. These may put off gamers looking for a challenge, but if I'm going to spend $10+ on a game, I should at least be able to enjoy it instead of being enraged by it, so I'm happy. Heck, it's the first PixelJunk game I've not only been able to beat, but actually earn a Trophies in.

The game also includes a two-player mode and a Remote Play mode. Since I still don't have a second DualShock 3, I wasn't able to try out the multiplayer (it's local only, the only online feature is leaderboards like in Monsters and Eden). But, I have a PSP, so I tried out Remote Play. While the game still looks decent, minus the compression from streaming, it plays a bit differently, mainly due to the PSP's lack of a second analog stick/nub which is crucial to the regular gameplay. Instead, when you move the nub, the ship will fly and shoot in the same direction, meaning when you're aiming you'll still be flying towards the enemy... which defeats the purpose of avoiding the enemy.

Graphics
Graphically PixelJunk Shooter is much more like Eden than it is Monsters or the flat-3D Racers. The game features an outline-less 2D style, with a unique color-scheme, that all together just looks fantastic when you're playing it in 1080p. The liquid elements, despite being flat, flow like liquid should, and the varying environments and elements between each episode are a treat to see in HD. It's not as much variation as Eden's levels, but at least Shooter offers unique levels in each environment instead of just making you replay the same map for longer. I also appreciated that this is the first game in the PixelJunk series to not use the annoying 'black bar' HUD, instead using a display that feels like it's part of the game. (The screenshot here is from an early version, but you can check the video to see the game's much improved HUD).

Sound
Not the most enticing soundtrack of the PixelJunk series, but the music in Shooter works really well at giving the game the right mood for exploring the depths of a planet. But as I said before, unlike Eden, which had 10+ different environments, Shooter only has you playing in 3 majorly different settings, and because of that a lot of the music repeats. Sound effect wise... the monsters in the game don't have unique cries or noises when they attack, and the ship can't really make much noise. If there's any sound that amusing to hear it's the sound of the scientists being killed, sure it indicates that you won't get a 100% score, but it's the cutest death cry ever!

Final Thoughts
I definitely enjoyed playing through PixelJunk Shooter, and I have all the intention of completely the game 100%, which is something I can't say about Eden and Monsters despite enjoying them a lot. Maybe it's because the Trophies are actually achievable without getting angry or having to change a difficulty setting (which doesn't exist in Shooter, but the other two games had them patched in). Or maybe it's the fact that the game is the first I've bough that has PlayStation Home rewards for completing certain (though I have no clue) objectives. But regardless, PixelJunk Shooter is definitely my most favorite in the series so far, and I'm looking forward to the inevitable Encore expansion.

Overall Score: 9.2/10

For more gameplay footage visit VFHvideo on YouTube.

Playstation Store - 7/16/09

One Week Sale
WipEout HD (was $19.99, now $14.99!)
Flock! (was $14.99, now $7.49!)
Savage Moon (was $9.99, now $4.99!)
Crash Commando (was $9.99, $4.99!)
PixelJunk Eden (was $9.99, now $4.99!)
Brain Challenge (was $9.99, now $4.99!)
3 on 3 NHL Arcade (was $9.99, now $4.99!)

Downloadable Games
Namco Museum Essentials ($9.99)

PSone Classics (PS3 / PSP)
Spec Ops: Ranger Elite ($5.99)

Game Demos (Free)
Trash Panic Demo
FUEL Demo
Namco Museum Essentials Trial

Add-on Game Content
Cross Edge Bromidic Pack (free)
Cross Edge Defense Is Offense Pack 1 (free)
Cross Edge Defense Is Offense Pack 2 (free)
NCAA Football 2010 Add-Ons (x17) ($1.25 - $12.50)

Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires
* Desert Armor Set (Men) (free)
* Lion Armor Set (Men) (free)
* Paladin Armor Set (Women) (free)
* Shaman Armor Set (Women) (free)

LittleBigPlanet
** Ghostbusters Costume Pack ($5.99)
* Ghostbusters Uniform Costume ($1.99)
* Ghostbusters StayPuft Marshmallow Man Costume ($1.99)
* Ghostbusters Slimer Costume ($1.99)
* “No Ghosts” Logo Costume ($1.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour
** Eagles of Death Metal Track Pack ($5.49)
* “Anything ‘Cept The Truth” by Eagles of Death Metal ($1.99)
* “Cherry Cola” by Eagles of Death Metal ($1.99)
* “I Only Want You” by Eagles of Death Metal ($1.99)

Rock Band
** Judas Priest Pack 01 ($5.49)
* “Dissident Aggressor (Live)”— Judas Priest ($1.99)
* “Eat Me Alive (Live)”— Judas Priest ($1.99)
* “Prophecy (Live)”— Judas Priest ($1.99)

** Third Man Records - The Dead Weather Pack 01 ($5.49)
* “Hang You from the Heavens”— The Dead Weather ($1.99)
* “No Hassle Night”— The Dead Weather ($1.99)
* “Treat Me Like Your Mother”— The Dead Weather ($1.99)

** Big Dipper Pack 01 ($2.99)
* “All Going Out Together”— Big Dipper ($0.99)
* “She’s Fetching”— Big Dipper ($0.99)
* “Younger Bums”— Big Dipper ($0.99)

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games (also available from PS3 storefront)
Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This? ($19.99)
MYST ($14.99)
Unbound Saga ($14.99)

Add-on Game Content (also available from PS3 storefront)
Rock Band Unplugged
* “My Curse”— Killswitch Engage ($1.99)
* “My Iron Lung”— Radiohead ($1.99)

Full update at Playstation.Blog

Well then, not too shabby for fans of Rock Band, Ghostbusters, and LittleBigPlanet. Also, I highly suggest you buy PixelJunk Eden while it's on sale, if you haven't already; it was worth the $9.99 back when I got it, and now that Eden Encore is out, you have no reason not to buy both.

Also, there's an update for Playstation Home today, including a brand new design/upgrade for the Mall, and there's some new Home Spaces as well!

Who says PSP gets no love?

Sure, we may not have the most PSP content here (blame no one having it, yet), but you also can't excuse the lack of attention it gets. From UMD hatred, few releases, and even weeks go by where Sony adds no PSP content to the Playstation Store. But apparently those days are over, because Sony is announcing PSP content like it's a system launch.

From SCEA's annual Destination Playstation conference it was announced that:

- There will be 2 new PSP bundles; Assassin's Creed bundle (Includes a Black PSP, new Assassin's Creed title, with more features TBA) and a Hanna Montana bundle (Includes a new Lilac PSP, Hannah Montana game, Hannah Montana TV series UMD, a 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo, and decals for the PSP) ... why?

- New PSP titles including LittlleBigPlanet, MotorStorm: Arctic Edge (also on PS2, as to why, I don't know), and ... Petz (No thanks, Ubisoft); as well as Rock Band Unplugged, which will include its own store, and there's a bunch of EA Sports titles (but who cares?).

- Also the Warhawk Command Center will be launching on Playstation Home this week

Full press release at Playstation.Blog

Update: Thanks to an Atlus newsletter, I can also now say that Shin Megami Tensai: Persona will be coming to the PSP as well, releasing Fall 09 in North America

Playstation Store - 12/11/08

Another update, and lots to go around:

Price Update
Resistance: Fall of Man Map Packs (free)

Downloadable Games
PowerUp Forever ($9.99)

Add-on Game Content
LittleBigPlanet Santa Coat and Trousers (free)
LittleBigPlanet - Zangief of Street Fighter II costume ($1.99)
LittleBigPlanet - Guile of Street Fighter II costume ($1.99)
LittleBigPlanet - Chun-Li of Street Fighter II costume ($1.99)
LittleBigPlanet - Ryu of Street Fighter II costume ($1.99)
LittleBigPlanet Street Fighter II costume kit ($5.99)

Age of Booty Map Pack 4 (free)
Age of Booty Map Pack 5 (free)
High Velocity Bowling - Tiff’s Big Zero Trick Shot Pack (free)
High Velocity Bowling - Gearhead Ball Pack ($0.99)
Mercenaries 2 Blow It Up Again Content Pack (free)
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Apprentice Mission Pack ($9.99)
Star War: The Force Unleashed Character Pack 2 ($4.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour
* “You Know You’re Right” by Nirvana ($1.99)
* “Sliver” by Nirvana ($1.99)
* “Negative Creep” by Nirvana ($1.99)
* Nirvana Track Pack ($5.49)

* “Mama Mae” by Negrita ($1.99)
* “Dis-Moi” by BB Brunes ($1.99)
* “’54, ’74, ’90, 2010″ by Sportfreunde Stiller ($1.99)
* European Track Pack 01 ($5.49)

Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2
* Over The Rainbow ($1.49)
* How To Save A Life ($1.49)
* Waiting For Tonight ($1.49)
* Heart of Glass ($1.49)

Rock Band
* “Bathwater” - No Doubt ($1.99)
* “Don’t Speak” - No Doubt ($1.99)
* “Excuse Me Mr.” - No Doubt ($1.99)
* “Ex-Girlfriend” - No Doubt ($1.99)
* “Hella Good” - No Doubt ($1.99)
* “Hey Baby” - No Doubt ($1.99)
* “It’s My Life” - No Doubt ($1.99)
* “Just a Girl” - No Doubt ($1.99)
* “Running” - No Doubt ($1.99)
* “Simple Kind of Life” - No Doubt ($1.99)
* “Spiderwebs” - No Doubt ($1.99)
* “Underneath it All” - No Doubt ($1.99)
* “Sunday Morning” - No Doubt ($1.99)
* “The Singles 1992–2003″ - No Doubt (Album) ($19.99)

Game Videos (free)
Resistance 2 Accolades Trailer
Xam’d: Lost Memories Release Announcement Video
Xam’d: Lost Memories Exclusive Interviews
Lord Of The Ring: Conquest Good to be Bad Trailer

Movie and Blu-ray Disc Trailers (free)
Batman Tech Video
Not Easily Broken
Paul Blart: Mall Cop Trailer
Step Brothers Blu-ray Trailer
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc Blu-ray Trailer

PS3 Themes
Resistance 2 Americana Theme (free)
Resistance 2 Man vs. Chimera Theme (free)
Resistance 2 SRPA Team Theme (free)
Xam’d Lost Memories Theme (free)

PS3 Wallpaper (free)
Mountain Dew Wallpaper

PlayStation Store for PSP

Game Videos (free)
Resistance 2 Accolades Trailer
Xam’d: Lost Memories Exclusive Interviews Video
Xam’d: Lost Memories Release Announcement Video
BRAIN CHALLENGE video

Also remember, Playstation Home is now in public Open Beta. Also, to those of you that have echochrome for PS3, there is an update that adds more user generated levels, and Trophies!

Home Beta

Yup, I've gotten yet another Beta invite, this time for Playstation Home. The e-mail told me to sign in from 6-8 PM PST tonight, but from the look of my poor wifi, I don't think that's happening... Hopefully I can say something about it when it actually gets to working though.

Stick around!