During their last community address, Ronimo Games teased a brand new character soon to join the ranks of the Awesomenauts crew. The new characters, (yes, plural,) will be showcased at the team’s studios in the Netherlands during an open invitation to players around the world. So if you’re in the neighborhood, visit the community forum for details.

Next week, the game’s catchy soundtrack, inspired by 80s Saturday morning cartoons will be available for download on bandcamp. Until then, you can always download the game’s catchy theme song free of charge.

Ronimo is also getting ready to dish out a balancing patch that it hopes to get in our hands “in a few short weeks.” Some of the changes include: ”Leon’s slow upgrades & tongue, Voltar’s drones & healing, Yuri’s timebubble and Froggy G’s whirlwind shield. Apart from tweaking existing values, we will also be replacing a couple of upgrades.”

Jet Set Radio first came out on Sega’s Dreamcast twelve years ago and gave players the chance to be Tokyo graffiti artists. The game is releasing digitally on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and PC, and today Sega announced that it will also be releasing on PlayStation Vita.

The handheld version of the game will give players added gameplay options including touchscreen controls for faster graffiti tagging and Vita camera integration. Haruki Satomi, Senior Vice President of Digital Business at SEGA, said “As Jet Set Radio is focused on creativity, the touch capabilities of the PlayStation VITA are proving to be a perfect fit.”

We played the game’s XBLA version at PAX East this year, and it felt quite the same as it did playing it back on the Dreamcast, which is a good thing. We’ll see how this new Vita version compares to the original when we get our hands on it at E3 next week.

Thursday from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Pacific (that’s 11 a.m. Thursday to 2 a.m. Friday Eastern and 4 p.m. Thursday to 8 a.m. Friday BST), Sony will be working on the PlayStation Network, and it won’t be functioning. The silver lining? Though account management, the PlayStation Store and PS Home won’t be working, Sony says that online play shouldn’t be effected, as long as you’ve signed in to your PSN account within the last five days.

Don’t panic.

Your info is safe.

Again..don’t panic.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I was a good attempt at giving players a continuation of the original Genesis titles, but its wonky physics and gimmicky stages kept it from achieving true potential. It looked like a classic 2D Sonic game, but the game lacked that special essence that made its 16-bit predecessors so much fun. Luckily, Episode II is the better of the two installments and gives fans a Sonic they’re more familiar with, even if does come with a few misses.

One of the biggest additions to Episode II is the inclusion of Tails, who now brings two-player co-op to the table. Like in the classic games, Tails can pick up and fly Sonic to places he can’t reach for a short amount of time, but players have a lot more control over him this time. By simply pressing a button, the action will pause, and Tails will teleport to where Sonic is and help him out. I found this too convenient sometimes because while it gets you out of sticky situations right away, after a while, it becomes too easy to press a button and save Sonic from a misstep. Tails and Sonic also have another combo ability that turns them into a giant ball, faster and stronger than the average spindash. The duo will always be joined by one another, so levels integrate these two abilities in unique ways that create a different experience. The game may feel like Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but this is a new game, after all.

Co-op mode lets two people play together offline or online, but it does come across a few problems, one of them due to the game’s fast-paced action. If you fall behind your friend, the game will respawn you right behind him, but you’ll need to press a button to pop out of your protective “bubble” like in New Super Mario Bros. The problem here, though, is that this happens a lot when going down slopes or slides, even when you don’t intend to leave someone behind. Another thing I noticed is that the person playing as Tails will have an advantage and can easily exploit certain situations by flying; this is especially evident during boss fights. Let’s just say, playing with someone else is easier than playing solo.

Controlling Sonic and dashing through the many colorful worlds feels quite good. Episode I’s physics engine has been overhauled, and the blue hedgehog runs a bit more like he did back during his Genesis years. Sonic’s homing attack is back, but aiming feels more accurate and is easier to pull off. He is also less shiny and doesn’t look out-of-place amid his colorful backdrops, which have layered textures that often give the game a great pseudo 3D effect. Considering the game is supposed to feel like Sonic 2, it’s great that controls and graphics don’t distract you from the game’s speed, a problem that often plagued Episode I.

Stages, too, are a lot more reminiscent of the original games and are designed to keep you always in motion. While it’s a bit apparent that the themes of past stages have been recycled into “new” zones – expect to see a sky fortress and a snowy amusement park, for example – the game does have its unique charm that is complemented by its soundtrack reminiscent of Sonic’s 16-bit days. There is, however, one section of an underwater level that requires you to swim past enemies that freeze the way forward. If you’re too slow or your aiming is off, you’ll be blocked from all sides, and all you can do is wait until Sonic and Tails drown to try again. Frustrated, I tried (in vain) to find a solution, and can only wonder why the developers wouldn’t provide one that doesn’t require losing a life.

Like classic Sonic titles, Episode II is great the first time you play it, but you may question playing through it several times. To extend playtime even further, the game includes chaos emeralds and red rings to collect in each act. As expected, collecting these emeralds lets you turn into Super Sonic, but it doesn’t really affect the game’s ending that much. Also, while finding each act’s red ring is supposed to provide a challenge, they are simply in areas you’ll explore anyway, and their presence simply serves to unlock an achievement. The developers did include a score attack and time trial mode for each act, so players can at least compete with each other via the game’s leaderboards.

While I didn’t particularly enjoy Episode I that much, Episode II rewards players who played the first game and unlocks Episode I stages playable as Metal Sonic. This feels almost like an apologetic thank you to fans that played through the first game, but this expansion gives you some backstory to the character and lets you play through the first game in a whole new way. Plus, it’s great to see Sega implement a similar lock-on technology it did back when Sonic & Knuckles came out.

Episode II has some obvious gameplay issues and provides a lackluster ending, but the experience playing through each stage is very nostalgic of the fun I had playing through the Genesis games. I also appreciate the improvements the developers made to the game and that they listened to and fixed what fans disliked about the first one. At this rate, let’s hope Episode III is made and becomes something truly worth raving about.

Yes, we know Max Payne and Diablo III are out today, but Sega wants you to put down your AK-47 and gaming keyboard for a bit and take a minute to relive your childhood with Sonic the Hedgehog: Episode 2, which spindashes its way onto consoles and mobile devices this week.

Sega has been listening to fan feedback following the release of Episode 1, so expect to see some enhanced gameplay features such as two-player co-op, better physics, and the addition of the challenging red rings introduced in Sonic Colors.

Also, those who currently own Episode 1 will be able to replay the original game from the perspective of Metal Sonic and learn more about his backstory and how he survived the events at the end of Sonic CD.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Episode 2 is out today on PlayStation and Steam and will be out on Xbox 360 tomorrow. The game will also be available for iOS devices on May 17. Be sure to check out our upcoming review of the game once it posts!

Despite encountering some problems with its German publisher, Awesomenauts was released to great reviews. Since its launch last week, over half a million games have already been played.

Listening to its fans, Ronimo will be releasing a patch next week that will address some of its balancing issues. While we didn’t encounter much of an unbalance during our review, some characters like the game’s healer could get overpowered in the hands of skilled players. Ronimo is also looking into communication issues that prevent some players from joining matches. The developer recommends resetting your console and router until they work on solving this issue.

Ronimo is also working on new character DLC and gave us a sneak peek at the game’s first female Awesomenaut coming soon. Get excited!

Any PC gamer out there can tell you that multiplayer online battle arena games are taking the online gaming scene by storm. In just the past year, giants like League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients have seen favorable success with players eager to experience their fusion of RPG and competitive real time strategy mechanics. Console players, however, have yet to get a title that lets them experience what this hype is all about. That is, until now.

Despite being an obvious portmanteau, Awesomenauts is also a blend of different elements that lets it work effectively on consoles. Instead of teams of five, you get teams of three. Instead of an overhead map, you get a 2D scrolling arena. While at first glance it may seem the game is a watered down version of the other MOBA games out there, players need to realize Awesomenauts isn’t trying to emulate the big boys on the PC. It’s simply trying to give console players a taste of what a MOBA game feels like. And, boy is it tasty.

The game offers both online and split-screen matches and also lets up to three local players take on another team online. Matches consist of two teams of three trying to take down their enemy’s base while also defending theirs from attack. Each team has its own set of powerful turrets that also provide barriers for the other team, so once these turrets are down, the opposing team can easily waltz into an enemy base and take it down. Each team is also assisted by friendly bots that are constantly making their way to each turret, but without the help of the Awesomenauts, they will quickly get shot down.

A lot of the game’s charm comes from its colorful cast – the Awesomenauts themselves. While the core of the game consists of winning as many matches as you can, there isn’t much room for character development. This didn’t stop Ronimo Games from giving each Awesomenaut his own personality, clearly evident after watching the opening cutscene and listening to their witty lines of dialogue during matches. Each character even has his own unique theme song that plays when you select him, and like any MOBA title, each one has his own unique bag of tricks.

During matches, your characters can pick up in-game currency called Solar that lets them purchase power-ups and abilities. Everyone starts with the bare minimum, and as matches progress, the more Solar a character picks up, the more powerful he can become. Before a match begins, you can change the loadout of your characters, furthering creating an element of strategy to the abilities you choose to upgrade. Sheriff Lonestar, for example, has both a dynamite throw attack that does splash damage and a ramming bull attack that helps clear the area by pushing enemies away. You can choose to level up both of these to give you a well-rounded character or focus on one to prioritize your role on your team. These simple choices make each gameplay session a unique experience since players can customize their characters to their liking.

Starting a match in Awesomenauts is also a painless procedure, and the game never lets you wait to get into a match. If a match doesn’t have enough human players, the computer will control any remaining teammates and continue to search for incoming players. These bots actually do a pretty good job, and I often found myself in hot water after underestimating them. Players who start a match already in progress are given extra Solar to catch up to everyone else. While I did like the ease in starting a match, I wish there had been an option to let players wait until they had a full team of people as I often ended up in matches that were close to finishing and on teams nearing defeat.

Every match you play through, even the ones you lose, will get you experience points that levels up your Awesomenauts account and unlocks more characters and abilities to buy during matches. The game starts you off with three characters, but three more elaborate classes such as the tank and healer get unlocked later on. I found that because of this, lower leveled teams may be at a disadvantage. Maybe this is why even a loss gets you lots of experience points. Of course, your account’s level has nothing to do with your in-game level that always resets with each match, so even if you’ve maxed out your experience points, you still need to use your plethora of abilities effectively to win.

Players can jump, shoot in eight directions, and do things you normally don’t do in other MOBA titles, so Awesomenauts may look more like a 2D platformer than a game like League of Legends, but Ronimo’s approach to creating a MOBA experience on the consoles actually works. Some matches can last up to thirty minutes, and are as engaging and addicting as those in other PC titles. The success of an online game is also measured by how big its online community is, and because the game is accessible to even the most casual of console gamers out there and because Ronimo plans to release more content and characters in the future, I’d say the fun won’t be over anytime soon.

Is The Avengers the best superhero movie of all time? (Read our reviewand find out!) Does the same hold true for The Avengers pinball table?

Zen Pinball is releasing Marvel’s The Avengers, a unique pinball table based on the film, and will be included as part of Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles, a brand new four-table pack for Pinball FX2 on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

This unique table features digital assets and events taken directly from the film as well as pinballs that are unique to each Avenger. Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man and Thor are all aboard the Hellicarrier with Nick Fury leading the charge into battle!

When Skullgirls released on consoles last month, many players were left wondering where their characters’ move lists were. Today, Reverge Labs and Autumn Games announced plans to release updates to the game (including this simple option) as well as plans to make the game available on PC.

Coming later this year, the game will be available to download through Steam, Origin, GameFly, GamersGate, and GameStop PC Downloads. It will include updates such as in-game movelists, additional tutorials, better single player AI, and username display for online matches. If you already have Skullgirls on the consoles, these updates will be coming to you for free as well.

“We’re thrilled with the very positive reception the game has received and the great support and feedback we’ve been getting from the community on a number of ways to make the game even better,” said Jason Donnell, president and COO, Autumn Games. “We’re excited to be working on answering those requests.”

Skullgirls is currently available on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

Following reports about German publisher dtp Entertainment’s insolvency filing this weekend, it seemed like Awesomenauts would see issues launching on time. Today, however, developer Ronimo Games has confirmed that its game is releasing right on time.

Awesomenauts will makes it way onto both Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network  on May 2.

The game can be best described as an outer space version of League of Legends with 2D shooter and RPG elements thrown in. Both teams must try to destroy their enemy’s bases before theirs gets destroyed as well. Featuring a colorful cast of unique characters and settings, Awesomenauts definitely got our attention.

Read our preview for more on this indie title, and get ready to launch into space battles this Wednesday.

dtp Entertainment, German publisher of the upcoming Awesomenauts downloadable game, has filed for insolvency. In an email sent to us this morning, developer Ronimo Games said it is “unsure of what this means for the game” but is working hard on resolving this issue.

Insolvency occurs when a company cannot meet its debt obligations on time. These issues can be fixed and restorative measure can be taken to prevent it from ultimately going bankrupt.

Awesomenauts has a release date of May 2 for both Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, but after today’s announcement, there is no news whether this will change or not. We’ve contacted the developer for more details.

The game can be best described as an outer space version of League of Legends with 2D shooter and RPG elements thrown in. Both teams must try to destroy their enemy’s bases before theirs gets destroyed as well. Featuring a colorful cast of unique characters and settings, Awesomenauts definitely got our attention. Read our preview for more on this indie title.

Anyone anxiously waiting for Capcom’s upcoming RPG title can get a taste of the action when the demo for Dragon’s Dogma hits Xbox Live and PlayStation Network tomorrow.

The demo lets players control a party of three Pawns and lets you design and control two of the game’s character classes, the Fighter and the Strider, and play through two unique encounters. As the melee professional Fighter, you’ll venture through underground tunnels until you battle the deadly Chimerain. Using your daggers and bows, you’ll then lead the Strider on a quest to defeat the mighty Griffin.

One of the neat parts about the demo is that you can take time customizing your characters using the in-game character creation tools, and then easily export them to the full game once it launches next month.

Dragon’s Dogma is headed to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on May 22.

There was a small indie booth at PAX East that players kept revisiting throughout the weekend. That booth belonged to the team at Ronimo Games who had flown all the way from the Netherlands to showcase Awesomenauts, their newest title that can best be described as an outer space version of League of Legends with 2D shooter and RPG elements thrown in.

The core of Awesomenauts is its deathmatch multiplayer that puts teams of three players against one another. Each team’s goal is to make its way across the other side of the map destroying the opponent’s defense turrets and ultimately its base. You’ll also need to be mindful of your own base’s defenses and juggle offense and defensive strategies to survive.

You can choose from six different colorful characters, each one having a specialized set of talents and skills. Froggy G excels at moving quickly, Leon is a stealthy backstabber, Sherrif Clunk is the game’s tank, Yuri kills from a distance, Voltar is the healer, and Sherrif Lonestar is great at crowd control. Once your team selects its characters, you can then choose their load-outs and abilities they will have at their disposal.

Once the match starts, your goal is to destroy the opposite colored turrets and enemy robots coming from your enemy’s base. Each robot or human player you kill will also drop currency you can use to purchase those abilities you chose for your character at the start of the match. They’re not automatically unlocked until you buy or upgrade them, so the more enemies you kill, the more your character can “level up” and get stronger.

Awesomenauts’ seamless matchmaking system also means you won’t have to wait too long to enjoy matches as computer controlled robots will take over slots on your team until you find another human player. Of course, these robots aren’t as smart as human players, so the game continues to search for teammates while you play. The game lets you go online with up to two local buddies or play local multiplayer split-screen matches too.

Matches can truly last a long time if both teams know what they are doing. I noticed a few players kept coming back to play several times and while their first few matches only lasted mere minutes, their third match must have lasted at least fifteen minutes. The game really promotes replayability and I can tell its painless drop-in drop-out system will make finding matches a breeze.

Look for Awesomenauts next month when it launches on PlayStation Network May 1 and on Xbox Live Arcade May 2.

Aside from being a clever portmanteau that makes me think of brawling avocados, Guacamelee is an incredibly charming platformer by Drinkbox Studios that was as much of a joy to play as it was to just watch. What really drew me into the game, aside from its tried-and-true “Metroidvania” genre, was its colorful art style and the fact that the game is inspired by Mexican folklore.

The game’s main character is Juan Aguacate, an agave field worker who gets killed and finds a magical luchador mask in the world of the dead that not only brings him back to life but also grants him the wrestling powers he needs to stop his killer from uniting the world of the dead with the living. One of the animators working on the game is himself Mexican, and serves as the team’s go-to person for reference questions. Of course, the team has taken liberties with its game, but you should definitely expect to see various motifs and cultural allusions as you play.

Combat in the game revolves around, appropriately enough, melee moves that you can expand. Juan can do basic punching combos, but he can also grab and throw enemies onto each other and roll to dodge attacks. Common wrestling moves like pile-drivers and uppercuts also appear in the game, but these moves are unlocked with the story and make Juan not only stronger, but also let him explore areas that are initially blocked off. Other moves like turning into chickens to explore small areas are as funny as they are helpful.

My time with the game let me explore a large part of the world that included as much wall jumping as it did combat, but it also introduced a unique ability that let me switch between the world of the living and the world of the dead in an instant. Once Juan gets this ability, you can press a button and dimensions will change causing lava, for example, to turn into water or an invisible platform to appear. This feature reminded me a lot of Mighty Switch Force since you sometimes had to time your jumps with the dimensional shifts. Not only does this set the stage for puzzles and exploration, but it also affects combat since some enemies will also escape into the other dimension during fights.

I played through the demo with the game’s technical director via local co-cop who took on the role of the game’s female protagonist. As we were individually fighting our own targets, he told me his team is working on implementing more co-op moves that let players combine and link attacks more dynamically.

Drinkbox hopes to release the game on all consoles by the end of the year and is working on finishing up the game by building their world even further. If the demo is any indication, Guacamelee is another great example of how studios can expand on a genre and still keep their games feeling fresh. (After all, the best guacamole is, in fact, made with fresh avocados)

Hell Yeah! is a game about a rabbit named Ash, the prince of Hell who had some racy photos of him and his rubber ducky spread all over the internet. He also happens to have a short temper and could be considered clinically insane because his way of restoring his reputation is to simply kill everyone.

Developed by Arkedo Studios and published by Sega, Hell Yeah! is a colorful, gory, and energetic platformer that shares similarities to games that encourage exploration and backtracking, a genre often referred to as “Metroidvania.” As you make your way through the game, you’ll encounter areas you simply cannot pass through until you find a new weapon, power-up, or simply trigger a reaction in another area of your map.

As I played through the demo, Ash eventually picks up a rotary drill that not only serves as his main weapon, but also gives him the ability to “spin-dash” his way through the stage and off walls and ledges. I was instantly reminded of Sonic the Hedgehog. When I brought this up with Camille Guermonprez, Arkedo’s co-founder, he nodded and verified that this was in fact a reference to his studio’s relationship with Sega and, in a way, makes Ash out to be a “a bad Sonic with anger management issues.”

Once I got my rotary drill, Ash was also able to drill through pink crystals that blocked pathways and also held gems, the game’s currency, which I could later use to purchase missiles to defeat enemies that took no damage from my drill’s attacks. Guermonprez told me the game has 100 unique enemies, each with its own weakness and attack style. Some of these enemies also can’t simply be killed by running them over or shooting them with missiles so when you try to kill them, a mini-game will pop up on screen for you to play. Succeed in these game, whether it’s tapping buttons quickly, pressing them at a specific time, or hitting them in a specific order, and Ash will completely massacre his foes and gore will spew all over your screen. It’s quite colorful and also very graphic.

But that’s what also caught my attention about Hell Yeah! While the game may deal with sensitive topics, not every player will get its potty humor. Guermonprez compared this to Pixar movies where parents laugh at the subtle humor while kids may simply miss it altogether. His daughter for, example, has an innocent viewpoint as to why Ash is not happy that people saw him with his ducky. For her, he is simply angry. Still, the game will be rated M in the US but PEGI 12 in the UK. Localizing some of the game’s jokes has also proven difficult, he mentioned, as the subtle punch lines are often lost in translation.

My brief demo with the game took me a while to complete simply because there was so much to explore and many areas that would require revisiting. There were a few instances of trial-and-error, and I was constantly looking at my map to see where I had to go next because there were so many interconnecting paths. When I defeated a monster, more paths opened up for me to discover. This, coupled with the various weapons you unlock, provided for a much layered experience.  Guermonprez promises Hell Yeah!’s single player mode is so huge and full of customization that he did not see a need for it to have a multiplayer mode.

While Guermonprez told me he literally finished the game on Thursday, the same day he left France to head to Boston, Hell Yeah! doesn’t have a definite release date yet. Expect the game to come out sometime this summer on both Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network and expect to experience Hell in a whole new light.

Good news for fighting game fans: Skullgirls has just passed Microsoft certification and will be available on Xbox Live Arcade on April 11 for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Reverge Labs community manager David Barthlow posted the news on NeoGaf forums and also stated that the game’s PSN release date was yet to be determined but would most likely be April 10. The PSN version will be $14.99.

Ronimo Games announced today that Awesomenauts will hit consoles next month. The game will launch on May 1 on PlayStation Network in the US and on May 2 on Xbox Live Arcade everywhere else.

Awesomenauts is a 2D combat online shooter that puts teams of players against each other in a massive online multiplayer experience, combining 2D gameplay with 80s-inspired cartoon humor.

The game will also be available to try out during PAX East, so if you’re going, be sure to stop by and experience the awesomeness that is Awesomenauts.

Jenova Chen, co-founder of Thatgamecompany and director of Journey, thanked his fans and supporters in a PlayStation Blog post today.

His company’s third game “has officially broken PlayStation Network and PlayStation Store sales records.” It has become the fastest-selling game ever released on PlayStation Store.

“It was the players who told us how moving the game was,” says Chen, “and how it was important that we keep making these types of games so that more people in the world will realize what video games can be, and can grow to love games through our work.” To thank his fans further, he provided the following image:

If you have yet to play Journey, be prepared for the most surreal two hours of your life with a video game. Much of that is due in part to its art style and evolving soundtrack composed by Austin Wintory, which will be available on both iTunes and the PS Store on April 11. There will also be a limited CD release in the near future.

Also announced today is that the company’s co-founder Kellee Santiago has left the game’s developer. Santiago told Gamasutra that she plans to take what she learned making thatgamecompany’s three titles “and go forth and take it into new arenas.”

No news yet on where Santiago’s new “journey’ will take her.

Developed by: That Game Company
Published by: Sony
Genre: Action Adventure
Platform: PSN
Play it if: You’re looking for something different
Skip it if: You’d rather shoot stuff
3.5 out of 4 stars

By now we’ve all heard Roger Ebert’s thoughts on how games can’t be art. We’ve heard him talk about how even in this age, games will never be able to have the emotional impact that films do.I’m not going to sit here and list all of the reasons I disagree with him, or argue in any manner because I really don’t need to.

I’m just going to put it out there — Journey makes as strong of an argument against Ebert that you could ever need. It may not be for everyone, but like the best art house movies, it tells a remarkable tale in a manner that’s sure to break down barriers and be one of those games that you’re going to remember for quite some time.

Journey is the latest project by That Game Company, the studio that brought us the similarly artistic Flower. Journey places players in the role of a nameless robed figure on a quest to get to a mountain in the distance. It may sound like a simple task, but Journey takes you through almost every environment across the globe. You’ll start in the dessert, but go everywhere you could imagine in your quest. You can gain help from other players online in your playthrough of Journey — but you won’t be able to communicate with each other, nor will you even know their names.

That’s the key to what makes Journey so special — it forces you to rethink just how you play games. You come across these other robed figures and you have no idea who they are, and you’re often times forced to play with people you’ve never met before, and will likely never see again. When you do come across someone you’ve played with before (players have identifying symbols on their robes), it’s quite the experience, as it is when you’re able to help someone without the use of words or hints.

Though it has no dialogue and no traditional character development, Journey tells its story better than most modern AAA games. Throughout Journey, you’ll cheer as your character takes flight, you’ll wince as your character stumbles and you’ll feel real emotion as you say goodbye to some of the friends you’ve made, but can’t go on with you in your journey. There’s a very large level of emotional attachment in Journey, and That Game Company does a great job in taking a minimalist approach to making you connect with it’s world and characters.

What’s most endearing about Journey is just how far the little things go in making it a great and unforgettable experience. The game is filled with fantastic vistas that rival that of the best AAA games on the system, but it’s the little touches that go the furthest. Players communicate with in Journey only through a small musical shout which always stays in tune with the background music in the game. The sheer brilliance of a game like Journey is found in the weather effects, and the simple joy you’ll get when you are doing such trivial things that end up playing a huge role in the outcome of the game.

The Blast Factor: A lot of people are going to give Journey a try, and some are going to downright hate it. They’ll find it boring and lackluster. They’ll find nothing to do, but digging deeper and staying with the title will result in one of the most moving experiences you’ll have with a game. Journey tells a story, and it tells it like no other.Journey is one of those games that challenges what the medium can do, and hopefully the world will take notice.

Journey, like its name states, gives each person that plays it a unique experience unlike any other. Play it alone, and you’ll enter a world of wonder and awe that is as poignant as it is beautiful. Play it online with a stranger, and you might consider the game to be a parable of life.

Recently I had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call with Jenova Chen, co-founder of thatgamecompany and creative director for Journey, who shared with us his thoughts on games and what makes Journey so memorable.

After working on games like Flow and Flower, Chen approached Journey as a gradual progression of how his company makes games. “Our philosophy is that we want to push the boundaries of what a video game can communicate at the emotional spectrum,” says Chen. ”We want to bring new feelings to the audience.” His past games have focused on accessibility and intuitive controls while providing a universal emotional appeal. Journey is no different.

The online multiplayer component that was missing from his past games is actually what inspired much of Journey’s creation. Chen wanted to provide a new emotional experience for two strangers who meet over the internet. Chen comments that even if multiple people can go online to play with each other, a console game’s multiplayer will be based on its single player mechanics that tend to give players ultimate power and usually involve killing something or each other.

“Most single player games are about empowerment, but when both people feel powerful, it’s less likely they will connect or socialize,” says Chen. “In most of the console games, when people see each other, they are thinking about how to execute whatever their power is on each other. Rather than focusing on how I’m supposed to use my power on the other guy, we wanted [Journey] to focus on the experience of ‘Hey! There is another human being! I haven’t seen another human being for a while. I really want to go and talk to him.’”

Chen says Journey will feel more social than any other social game out there, and once you play it with someone else, you’ll understand why. The game takes place in a vast desert, and its simplistic art style was necessary to remove distractions while emphasizing the importance of coexisting with others.

Of course, you can choose to play Journey by yourself, but because Journey is designed to mimic life and our journey towards an inevitable death, Chen says each play-through will feel different as we might meet different people along the way. “It’s very much trying to be as true to our life as possible. If you have a Journey experience where you are playing as single player from the beginning to the end, it’s very much like self-reflection. But if you meet anyone during Journey, it will be very, very engaging. It’s almost changing the game to a completely different experience.”

Despite being very socially engaging, Journey doesn’t let players talk to one another or communicate in ways we are used to. Chen really wanted two players to bond together after putting them through challenges and struggles – but that alone wasn’t enough. He wanted people to go through a whole transformation with other players. “In order [to do that] you need to fully immerse them,” says Chen while explaining his decision to omit players’ PSN names from showing up in the game and removing any form of texting or messaging. “Characters in game are not supposed to speak human language, so just seeing the text from the human world is taking you away from this exotic place we created…they all become distractions of what the game is really about. All you need to know is that the other person is a human.”

Journey’s simple interface not only prevents distraction, but it also minimizes instruction and guidance, leaving you alone to figure out what you must do, and thus, giving you a sense of wonder. “Telling all the information to you, you’re taking away that sense of wonder,” says Chen. “In Journey, particularly, we want to avoid ruining that for you. We would rather like the players themselves to discover everything.”

Most people who play Journey will finish the game within two hours, but Chen doesn’t care if you think the game is too short as long as it did its job. “Our goal is to communicate emotion. We want to entertain people. We want to inspire people. We want to bring a strong emotional catharsis to the player. We know all the traditional tricks to extend a game, but if our goal is to communicate a strong feeling or a message, I feel we are responsible to doing it in the most efficient way possible. We don’t want to add any filler experience because people are paying money to experience that, and if we give them fillers, this is a disrespect.”

“Games are for everybody,” Chen says, “and in order to make them accessible to everybody, you have to design the interface to be more intuitive.” It makes sense when you buy a game for a kid to want it to entertain him for hours. But the games he makes aren’t just for kids. Chen understands adults are busy, so his games need to be able to move them enough to justify spending hours in front of a screen.

“I came from film school, so we learned all the basics about creating emotion through narrative, and in order to create very strong emotion, we need time. The problem with a game that is longer than three hours is then there is a bathroom break. The reason films are designed between 90 minutes and two hours is so that people can take the whole thing in and really build up to a climactic feeling. So, two hours is golden time before they have to go to the bathroom.” Most people will play the game in one sitting, Chen says, but Journey is an online game, so he imagines players will play the game at least three times.

When designing a game, Chen also considers what will make it worthwhile for an adult to play. “We grew up with the teenager games, and the empowerment was awesome. But, now you’re in charge of your life. You’re a professional. You have the power already. And so people are looking for something that offers more relevance to their life. [How] is a skill of a headshot going to help you in real life?”

Getting down to the heart of it all, Journey is essentially a journey of life that truly captures Chen’s vision. The game starts you off in a desert, like a baby who doesn’t know anything, and as you progress through the game, you mature. Each person will have a different experience playing Journey, but that’s what makes it so special.

Journey is available this Tuesday on PSN for $14.99. Watch for the review soon.

Here at Blast, we like PS3 shooter Killzone 3..I mean, really like it. Just read Jason’s review, where he said it was “a superb shooter” and “one of the best action games of the year.” That’s why we’re excited that even more people are going to get the opportunity to play it when a good bulk of the game’s multiplayer suite goes free-to-play on PSN next week.

Players who download the multiplayer game will have access to the entire multiplayer suite, DLC included until they reach the level of Sergeant , upon which they’ll have to pony up $15 to keep playing.

My dad loves football, but he finds football video games too complicated. I can’t really blame him either; I’ve tried to get him into Madden, but when you really break the 800 LB gorilla of a gaming franchise down, it’s tough to explain; even if it is second nature when playing. That’s exactly why NFL Blitz works so well — it’s America’s favorite game (Yeah, that’s right, I said it baseball) boiled down to its most basic elements.

Now, after years of being absent, the arcade style footballer returns; in all of its glory — well, sort of. It’s still just as frantic and fun as you remember, but it also comes during a turbulent time in the NFL, once that changes the very landscape and identity of what NFL Blitz is. Still, if you have even the slightest love for NFL Football, Blitz is a blast, especially played with friends.

If you’ve never played NFL Blitz, it’s basically a suped up version of Madden. The players are bigger and ripped with muscles and the plays more explosive. The game nixes strategy and philosophy for over-the-top action and adrenaline. In Blitz, there are no penalties, teams can catch on fire and it takes 30 yards for a first down rather than the standard ten yards.

The action in Blitz is fast, fun and in-your-face. It’s not uncommon to have score upwards of 30 points in the first quarter, and you’re bound to jump off your feet at least a few times. This is where Blitz excels, there’s never really a dull moment, and it gets even better when you’re playing against friends. This is the type of game that friendships are tested on, as it’s extremely fun to play against your friends in Blitz. Think throwing the game winning hail mary in Madden is fun? Imagine the thrill of doing it in Blitz, complete with players on fire and jumping clean over their opponents.

The most impressive aspect of Blitz is how much it retains the original arcade feel. Games are quick and easy for anyone to jump in and pick up and play. Perhaps more impressive, they’re also just as easy for anyone to win. It’s this accessibility that seems to be missing from most other current gen sports games. Blitz even features the old school Midway style codes to be entered at the versus screen for effects like different stadiums, characters and effects.

This isn’t however, the NFL Blitz of old, not completely anyways. The NFL is a much different league than we saw when the last entry in the series was released and that’s something that Blitz both falls victim to and benefits from at the same time. This season, the NFL has been tougher on late hits, and as a result, you won’t be able to stop your opponent’s touchdown celebration with a late, bone jarring hit. Sure, the hits in Blitz are ferocious enough, (come on, I delivered a piledriver to a Quarterback during a sack) but the late hits were a big part of the original games.

Aside from the Play Now option, you’re bound to get the majority of playtime from the game’s Blitz Gauntlet mode. Similar to modes found in games like NBA Jam and Mortal Kombat, you’ll face off with teams in a ladder format, with bosses mixed in. These bosses range from fictional characters (zombies) to team inspired creations (my Packers for instance had to face off with guys in overalls, Packer Jerseys and cheeseheads). These boss battles also feature powerups spread throughout the field, which makes them feel different than your standard games. There’s also a trading card game similar to that found in Madden, but I didn’t like it there and I don’t here either.

Tim Kitzrow from the original Blitz and NBA Jam games makes his return, and is just as entertaining as ever. Him and his announcing partner openly mock pop culture, including games, which includes Blitz. My favorite was when the two said that next year they’re going to audition for Madden because it pays more. Visually, NFL Blitz is on par with what you’d expect, though I was a bit disappointed at the lack of detail in some of the player’s faces. Sure, sometimes Aaron Rodgers looks like himself in the game, but others he just looks like another nameless, faceless NFL Quarterback.

The Blast Factor:NFL Blitz proves that arcade style sports gaming still has a place in modern gaming. It’s a blast to play, especially with other human players, and its accessibility makes it easy for just about anyone to jump in and play. . If you’ve got even the most slightest affinity for the sport or multiplayer gaming — you owe it to yourself to check out this modern day revival.

Alright, stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The PlayStation Network, the online network that’s home to all of Sony’s PS3 and PSP downloads is down. The good news is that it seems that this doesn’t seem to be as big of a problem as the outage that took the network offline for months earlier this year.

“We’re aware that some of you are having issues trying to log into PSN. We’re working to resolve the issue, and we’ll update you here,” Sony Tweeted on it’s official PlayStation account. The Twitter account has been updated saying that the service should be back up and running in a matrer of hours.

Based on the Comedy Central animated series created by Devin Clark, Ugly Americans Apocolypsegeddon is a multiplayer twin-stick  shooter, allowing up to four people to tangle with the hordes of the undead and demonic that are attempting to bring about the end of the world. Players can choose one of four protagonists from the show, Mark (the human), Leonard (a drunk wizard), Callie (a demon girl), or Grimes (a cop). Each character has their own special abilities, and can level up a list of attributes and gain access to thirty different weapons.

The end of days is coming to New York City and its up to you to put a stop to it… again. Ugly Americans progresses smoothly from an opening cutscene to set the mood, straight into the first chapter of your journey.The flow of the game works relatively well, setting the chapter up, playing through a level and ending with a boss fight. Each boss fight demands that the player figure out the bosses patterns and attacks, but most of the fights can be won by simply circling around the level and shooting. With a top-down viewpoint, gamers move their way through a variety of levels ranging from a side-scrolling cityscape to a enclosed club setting with a giant cross-dressing demon named Bethany charging after you and blasting your characters with techno music.

The gameplay itself is pretty standard; move your character with the left analog stick, shoot with the right, release a special attack with the right bumper. The game is easy to learn and quick to master, but unfortunately, the easy to learn, repetitive style of play is also easy to get bored with, even with the shifting levels and interesting looking bosses to contend with. Each of the playable characters all eventually end up feeling the same, and with the exception of their special attack essentially don’t differentiate from one another. The attributes and stats that come with leveling up are also pretty standard (strength, health points, agility, etc). Throughout the levels, players can also pick up items to help boost these stats such as Demon Babies that give you a permanent buff while you’re carrying them. The weapons, while very intriguing and humorous, are all very similar. High fire rate weapons equal less damage, while slow firing weapons do more, so essentially the only weapons that need to be used are the heavy hitters, as the majority of the fights in the game consist of players trying to knock down a giant health bar while circling the enemy.

The Blast Factor: Ugly Americans is a game that clearly caters to fans of the show. With a script written by the creator, the game falls a little flat on those looking for an interesting twin-stick shooter to have fun with. The linear feel of the levels leading up to the eventuality of a boss fight, players might very well feel a sense of disappointment or perhaps even boredom as they progress through the game. The multiplayer aspect is one of the redeeming qualities of the game, but it is difficult to actually get a four player matchup as so few people are playing it.

You? How about you? I see a few hands there.

Blast Magazine is partnering with Sony to hand out a slew of beta invites for the upcoming Resistance 3 multiplayer beta kicking off August 4.  How do you win? Just enter a comment on this post and you’ll automatically be entered. You can post as many times as you want, but you’ll only be entered once.  Please note, these codes are for users with North American PSN accounts only.

Oh and be sure to follow me on Twitter @JoeSinicki. I’ll be slinging codes there every now and then as well.

Winners will be chosen sometime Monday! Good luck!

One of our favorite game’s from this year’s E3 was Starhawk. The PS3 exclusive quasi western-space shooter featured an original concept and more importantly was incredibly fun to play.  Now, here’s a new look at one of the game’s cinnematics, which introduces us to Mercenary Emmet Graves.

StarHawk is expected to launch later this year on the PS3.

The PlayStation Network has been back up for over a month now, but that hasn’t done much to ease people’s fears about their personal data getting stolen in another crippling attack — so much so that sales of prepaid cards for the service are reportedly up.

Well, at least that’s what Capcom Europe head David Reeves says . “We have seen on PSN, and probably Sony are in a better place to tell you this, that there is a resurgence in people buying the generic PSN cards in retail stores rather than putting up their credit card details,” said Reeves.”People are playing it a bit safe at the moment because the hackers will be back [laughs], that’s my personal opinion. I mean … they will right?”

So have you stopped using your credit card on PSN?

Sega sent out an e-mail this morning to users of its Sega-Pass service informing them that an “unauthorized entry” had been detected in the system and as a result, was taking the service offline. The good news? According to the publisher, all payment issue is stored on a separate server, so no payment information was stolen.

“We have identified that a subset of SEGA Pass members emails addresses, dates of birth and encrypted passwords were obtained,” the email warns. “To stress, none of the passwords obtained were stored in plain text,”

Sadly, stories of video game companies getting hacked are all too familiar this year. Starting with the massive hack that took down Sony’s PlayStation Network, a number of high profile companies have been the victims of hacks  including Bioware and Nintendo.

I really liked L.A. Noire, and more of it is never a bad thing, especially when it comes this quick.

Starting today, players will be able to download a number of add-ons for the game. “The Naked City” DLC case ($4.00 for PSN/320 Microsoft Points), “A Slip of The Tongue” DLC case ($4.00/320 Microsoft Points), Broderick Detective Suit and Gun ($1.00/80 Microsoft Points), Sharpshooter Detective Suit and Gun ($1.00/80 Microsoft Points), The Badge Pursuit Challenge ($2.00/160 Microsoft Points), and Chicago Piano Machine Gun (free community unlock) are all available.

On June 21st, The “Nicholson Electroplating Disaster” DLC will launch, with “Reefer Madness” hitting on July 12.

“With its blend of real crime influences and noir atmosphere, L.A. Noire contains boundless potential for new stories and new cases,” said Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games, in an official press release received by Blast. “The four new cases are strong standalone stories that sit perfectly alongside the main game.”

Don’t want to pay for each piece of DLC separately? The Rockstar Pass, which costs only $10 is now available and allows users to pick up all of the DLC as it becomes available; netting you a 50% savings. After this week, the pass goes up to $12.

Go get ‘em detective.

What’s better than one Batman? Try a bunch of different Bat-men. Such is the hope of Monolith Productions, who unveiled Gotham City Impostors, a new multiplayer game featuring the caped crusader set to hit PC, PSN and Xbox Live.

Players take the side of either the Batz, modeled after Gotham’s Dark Knight, or the Jokerz — guess who they’re modeled after. Since the game is multiplayer only, there’s no huge Arkham Asylum story, but there is a bit of one tying everything together; it turns out a group of concerned citizens have put on a Batman cowl because they’re sick of the Joker and his minnions.

The game is described as being somewhat like Team Fortress 2, with quick matches and easy to pick up and play controls.

No date or price has been announced for the game as of yet, but expect to see more at E3 in June.

Shortly after midnight Pacific Time, Sony announced that they had begun systematically restoring PlayStation Network services. Upon logging in, users will be required to download the latest firmware, as well as change their account password.

This mornings reactivation restores most, but not all of the provided services after the PSN network was hacked last month. As of this morning, users will be able to play online, chat, use friends lists, compare trophies, use PlayStation Home, as well as any of the services video functionality including Hulu Plus and Netflix. The PlayStation store will b restored at a later date.

The following video was also posted on the official PlayStation blog featuring the company’s Computer Entertainment head Kazuo Hirai explaining the process of restoring the network.

Square Enix, the publisher behind games like Chrono Trigger and the Final Fantasy series has confirmed that they have been the victims of a hack — one that resulted in over 25,000 e-mail addresses and 350 resumes being compromised.

“Square Enix can confirm a group of hackers gained access to parts of our Eidosmontreal.com website as well as two of our product sites,” said a Square Enix representative. Reportedly the hack was focused on sites for fan favorite series Dues Ex.

“We immediately took the sites offline to assess how this had happened and what had been accessed, then took further measures to increase the security of these and all of our websites, before allowing the sites to go live again. We take the security of our websites extremely seriously and employ strict measures, which we test regularly, to guard against this sort of incident.”

The infamous Hacker group known as Anonymous has been linked to the attack.

The New York State Attorney General  Eric Schneiderman has reportedly subpoenaed Sony regarding the highly public hack that has left the PlayStation network inoperable since mid April Bloomberg reports.

Bloomberg reports that the Attorney General is specifically looking into what Sony told consumers about the security of their network following the breach.

Stick with Blast for more on this, and all of your up to the minute PSN breach news.

photo courtesy of Rueters

Sony executives, led by Kaz Herai, the company’s Executive Deputy President held a press conference this morning in Tokyo to finally talk publicly about the intrusion that has crippled the PlayStation Network since last month. The executives apologized deeply to the crowd, and thanked them for their continued support.

There is some good news on the horizon for PlayStation owners though. Sony announced via that some services will be back up and running this week such as:

• Restoration of Online game-play across the PlayStation®3 (PS3) and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) systems
  -This includes titles requiring online verification and downloaded games
• Access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3/PSP for existing subscribers
• Access to account management and password reset
• Access to download un-expired Movie Rentals on PS3, PSP and MediaGo
• PlayStation®Home
• Friends List
• Chat Functionality

They go on to announce that they are working on building a much more secure network  such as:

• Added automated software monitoring and configuration management to help defend against new attacks
• Enhanced levels of data protection and encryption
• Enhanced ability to detect software intrusions within the network, unauthorized access and unusual activity patterns
• Implementation of additional firewalls

They are even instituting a new customer appreciation program geared towards customer loyalty as well as a way to say thank you for sticking around.

But with this good news also comes the bad. According to PC World, users are already experiencing the fallout from the cyber-hackers from erroneous charges on credit cards from a plane ticket to Germany as well as groceries being purchased in Japan.

Overall this was a nightmare for PSN users and the company and all at the hands of cyber-hackers. The company did the best they could by shutting the service down as quick as possible, but 10 days later, there is still no PSN for the users, though with the latest news the system is almost up and running. And that is probably the best news of all.

Additional reporting by Joe Sinicki

For those unlucky enough to have a Sony Playstation 3, at the moment, then you know that as of today, that things are not good for the company. Or the users.

For the past week and half, the Playstation Network (its online services such as online play, Netflix, etc.) has been experiencing issues, but without any ETA provided by the company as to when it will be fixed when the issues first issued.

This is not good news by any means, and the blog goes more into detail about what can be done. The good thing is that with this announcement today, they have also given an ETA as to when the Network will be up and running, which should be within the week, but is too little late

Here’s your first look at Atari’s upcoming downloadable Ghostbusters title Sanctum of Slime. The game will hit PSN, Xbox Live and PSN in Spring of 2011 and casts players in the role of a rookie Ghostbuster hired by the team from the original film to help prevent a paranormal tragedy. Wait, something about that feels so familiar.

Oh well, check out the never before released trailer and screens below.

The PSN store is fast becoming the premiere testing ground for smaller indie games. For every Limbo that Microsoft throws into the spotlight, Sony usually has three other strange, yet lovable little games available that you should also be playing. Such is the case with Hoard, the latest to hit the PS3 download scene.

Essentially a cross between a strategic, dual-stick shooter and a board game, Hoard pits up to four dragons against each other over a medieval landscape in a contest of wealth and plunder. The gameplay is, at heart, pretty simple. You fly around an overhead map, attacking villages, caravans, castles, and other human constructions, pick up the gold left behind from the attack, and bring it back to your lair. The dragon with the most gold at the end of the game wins. Easy-peasy.

There are variations on the theme, of course. One game mode focuses on kidnapping and ransoming princess, for instance. Anytime you put a royal damsel in distress, the pesky humans will send out knights (aka, fried food) to rescue her. Hold on to the gal long enough and the humans give up and just provide the ransom instead. As it turns out, this is an incredibly lucrative career choice, as those princesses are worth lots of gold.

The interaction with towns is an area of particular creativity in Hoard. Sure, you can go around blindly burning everything to the ground, but as is so true in life, if you merely hurt them just enough, the humans will give up and start working for you. So long as you don’t destroy their town center, a conquered town will stop attacking you (while their archers will continue to attack your opponents) and send a steady stream of gold-laden caravans to your lair in what can only be presumed as a pre-Mafia, fantasy protection racket.

Letting towns prosper also makes the pay offs far more substantial. Caravans might start out carrying a few hundred gold, but as the game progresses, will end up containing three or four times as much. Beyond merely attacking towns, caravans, and princesses, the board offers several other creative obstacles. Wizard towers offer tons of gold and even special gems, but are absurdly well protected. One blast from a tower will send your dragon straight back to its lair to regenerate health.

Giants will often appear later in a game and start rampaging against both humans and dragon kind. If you attack one hard enough, it will get distracted and follow you instead of attacking a village. From there, you can potentially lead the idiotic brute to towns protected by other dragons, or just set it off to terrorize the hillsides. There are a lot of little touches like this that affect the gameplay in minor ways, but add up to a level of strategy that will please RTS-centric gamers without completely leaving casual players or newcomers behind.

While there are certainly some layers of depth to Hoard, the game is, at heart, built around the same sensibilities of a board game. There’s no persistent level building from game to game. You build up your dragons stats within a single game, but nothing remains past that. The maps vary in size, but are all fairly small and don’t change in any fashion beyond buildings falling and rising. The whole entertainment value of the game relies entirely on its pick-up-and-play design. Matches last about ten minutes, and then the game kicks you back out to the main menu.

The visuals are more utilitarian than beautiful. Hoard looks fine for what it offers, but the maps are rather bland looking, with simplistic representations of buildings and human units. The single player games consist purely of tutorials or bot-matches, so anyone expecting a story-driven campaign or anything beyond simple multiplayer will be out of luck.

For about $15, Hoard offers a distinctively fun and creative multiplayer game. It’s one of the few games that works equally well whether all players are in the same room or across the globe. Hoard is sure to draw in non-traditional gamers who want a game that mixes easy action with more strategic, slower pacing. That’s not to say Hoard is slow—it’s still all about gathering up as much gold as quickly as possible.

Blast Factor: Hoard is a pretty narrow game. It’s not epic or particularly deep, and is mostly just for players who want a quick match of something different. That said, the game goes about giving players a creatively fun multiplayer experience very well.

Console owners, prepare to become addicted.

This week, at the Social Gaming Summit in London, Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka confirmed that console versions of the addictive puzzler Angry Birds, would be released in the next year.

Rovio and publishing partners EA and Chllingo and hoping to follow in the footsteps of PopCap and Plants VS Zombies, which made the transition to console earlier this year, and will be debuting on the Nintendo DS later this year.

Vesterbacka also shot down rumors of an Angry Birds sequel, but did mention that they’ve played with the idea of doing a spin-off title that exlores the game’s story from the pig’s point of view.

Konami’s classic X-Men arcade is finally on its way to consoles. The announcement was made at this week’s New York Comic Con and will come packed with new features.

The updated X-Men arcade will feature six player drop-in, drop out support along remastered visuals and the ability to create custom VS matchups.

No release date has been announced for the anticipated port, but it’s expected to hit before this Christmas.

Check out the announcement trailer below!

The first in a recently announced series of DLC packs coming up for the critcally acclaimed Red Dead Redemption, the ‘Legends and Killers’ pack will be released into the Wild West sometime in early August. It will feature 9 new multiplayer map locations – more than doubling the amount of territories in the existing multiplayer modes, 8 new multiplayer characters from Red Dead Revolver, and a new Tomahawk projectile weapon with corresponding Challenges/ Achievements/ Trophies for both single and multiplayer. It will run $9.99 on PSN or 800 MS Points on XBLA.