Here’s a cool video showing how Naughty Dog, the studio behind Uncharted made the debut trailer for their newly revealed PS3 survival game, The Last of Us.

The game is rumored to ship later this year. Fingers crossed.

Here’s your first look at MLB 12: The Show, courtesy of our friends over at IGN. Featuring new broadcast style presentation and move controls, MLB 12: The Show hits the PS3 on March 6.

Earlier today GameStop sent out calls to a number of customers who had preordered The Last Guardian to inform them that the long awaited PS3 exclusive had officially been canceled. You can hear the call here.

While its far from an official announcement, the evidence seems to be adding up. Searching GameStop.com for the game’s title gives you no results, and several stores have confirmed to Blast that they no longer have a listing for the game. Add to this that fact that the game’s creator Fumitory Ueda has officially left Sony (word is that the game was said to be finished on a contract basis).

But don’t get too disappointed, as a Sony spokesperson tells Kotaku that the game is definitely not canceled.

Blast will have more on this developing story as it becomes available.

Sony’s PS Vita launched in Japan this past weekend, and while they sold over 300,000 of the handheld over two days – not all is well. Users have reported countless issues with the system’s touch screen along with crashes and unresponsive features.

Of course, technical issues with new consoles are not a new feature, but the sheer amount of posts regarding defective Vita units to social networking sites like Twitter and YouTube has prompted Sony to post a statement on the official PlayStation blog.

“Currently, our information centre regarding PlayStation Vita as well as our usual customer service centre are receiving many enquiries. We apologies if your phone isn’t connected straight away,” it said.

Sony has also issued a mandatory firmware update that the publisher says should fix a number of the console’s issues.

“Some issues regarding PlayStation Vita can be addressed by simple procedures at home,” it added, linking to a series of frequently asked questions.

I’m what you call a wallflower. Born with two left feet, it’s a hazard to many when I’m dragged on to the dance floor. Let me let you in on a little secret though; when the curtains are drawn, and mood is right — I’ve been known to cut a mean rug in front of games like Dance Central with the family. You’ll probably never see it, but it’s quite the strange site to see a grown 240 lb man shaking it to Poker Face. Dance Central and its sequel are easily the standard in the newly forming dancing genre, but Sony’s new entry Everybody Dance is a more than capable challenger to the throne. With a slick presentation and a few new bells and whistles, it could be the most surprisingly fun guilty pleasure you’ll have this year — be warned though, the more you play, the more you’ll start to pick apart its flaws.

By now you know Everybody Dance’s deal, hold the PlayStation Move controller, and shake it to a bunch of awesome music while diagrams on the screen show you what your next move will be. It’s a simple formula, but Everybody Dance may have found an incredibly simple way to improve upon it. The upper left hand corner of the screen features the song’s music video, and while it may sound distracting for the dance steps, it serves quite a useful purpose. Odds are that the majority of the people playing games like this and Dance Central aren’t the best dancers, but are looking to have a fun time. Adding in the music video seems to make those apprehensive to join in the fun a bit more since not everyone’s attention is focused directly on them. In general though, the presentation in Everybody Dance is top notch. The on-screen display is crisp and unlike games like Just Dance, they’re quite easy to follow.

Of course, any dancing game is built on just how good its track listing is, and Everybody Dance delivers here too. While other games in the genre clearly focus on one genre while throwing occasional love to others, Everybody Dance’s track list is an eclectic one to say the least. At one point you’re jamming to Rihanna, then the next you’re getting nostalgic with New Kids on the Block or even a bit romantic with Barry White.  Personally, I really enjoyed my time with Elton John’s “I’m still standing” and The Chemical Brothers, “Hey Boy, Hey Girl.”

In Everybody Dance, you can dance alone, compete against a friend or alongside them in co-op, but where the game really takes off is with its dance creator mode. Here, you can skip the game’s choreography for the game and record your own, then challenge others to dance it. This is extremely fun and novel in a number of different ways — first, people like me can record the strangest dances in the world and laugh as friends try to copy them, but it’s also great for those who can actually dance and want to show the world their choreography skills. If Everybody Dance has legs, it’ll be here.

Really, the only thing that bugged me with Everybody Dance isn’t an issue with the game itself, but the platform it’s on and its limitations. The PlayStation Move requires the controller and the Eye camera, so it begs the question — if I’m doing all of this work, trying to match up with the choreography perfectly, is it just monitoring the controller itself? Could I get by with just moving the controller somewhat similarly to the way the dancers are? Yes…and no. Most songs don’t allow you to cheat, but there were a few times when it felt like I was just able to take the easy way out. Take for instance a few cases where I was given good scores after I know I screwed up the majority of my body.

The Blast Factor: Everybody Dance is the perfect game to bring out at parties. Everyone is bound to have a good time since they’re not paying that close attention to the game’s mechanics. It’s bright, loud and so incredibly fun that even wallflowers like me are going to find it hard to resist. It may not be perfect, but Everybody Dance could be one of the biggest surprises of this holiday season.

Uncharted 3 doesn’t hit shelves until this Tuesday, but that hasn’t stopped Naughty Dog from talking about the eventual Uncharted 4.

“There are a ton of Drake adventures out there and we haven’t told all of them yet, and as long as fans want the games and as long as we find something that’s interesting and will push the medium forward, we’ll continue to make them,” director Justin Richmond told the Official UK PlayStation Magazine.

Though Richmond didn’t talk about where Drake’s next adventure may take him, he did joke about Drake going in to space….nahhhh…too far.

I’ve been playing an unhealthy amount of Uncharted 3 over the last few days. Look for our review soon.

I first started playing Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One late at night. Sitting in front of the big screen, the opening cinematic started — all the conditions were right for a superb Ratchet and Clank experience. Then something strange happened; I found myself not exploring the world, but lumbering around, almost falling asleep in my chair. The next morning I jumped back in to the game with a few others and had a completely different experience – this was more like the Ratchet and Clank I knew.

All 4 One is a rare change from Insomniac for one of their most well known franchises, both in terms of design and quality. It’s two different games, a bad – -almost terrible single player endeavor and a frantic and mostly fun multiplayer romp. Perhaps most dissapoitingly, with graphical hiccups and glitches, All 4 One doesn’t live up to the past pedigree of previous games with superb production values. That being said, there’s still some value in this off the wall title featuring some of gaming’s most underrated characters – especially if you’ve got the friends to fill in the ranks.

Things start off remarkably well in All 4 One. We open to Ratchet and Clank being interviewed and lamenting their adventurous lifestyle, talking about how they want to leave the heroics to a professional – Like newly elected President Captain Quark (or anyone else). Before long, Dr. Nefarious returns, but in the middle of his attempt at revenge, the four are face to face with a powerful new enemy and are transported to an alien planet, and most work together to get home. This leads to perhaps the game’s most endearing quality; there are plenty of heart-warming moments and in-jokes as the former enemies must find a way to work together. It’s hard not to crack a smile at some of the moments, especially when the voice work is done so incredibly well.

Much like previous Ratchet and Clank games, All 4 One attempts to blend a multitude of gaming mechanics and traditions to create one experience; unlike previous games, they aren’t widely successful here. The main draw of All 4 One as opposed to the previous games in the series is that here, you’ll be doing everything you normally do, from platforming to solving puzzles, but this time you’ll have up to three of your friends by your side. Right from the character select screen, I was instantly brought back to my days of bumming around in arcades playing classic coin-op coop’s like The Simpsons and X-Men. That vibe persists throughout the entire game, and the game proves to be a complete blast when it really starts to gain momentum. It becomes a fast and frantic smash and grab co-op beat ‘em up that is worth more than its fair share of beat-‘em-ups.

The downside too all of this is that some of what makes the Ratchet and Clank series so remarkable in the first place seems to have been compromised for this feeling. The previous games, especially the phenomenal  A Crack in Time weren’t exactly open world, but they did encourage exploration throughout its worlds, in that regard, All 4 One feels remarkably shoe-horned and linear. You and your motley bunch will follow very set paths as you smash through crates, and jump from platform to platform. I couldn’t help but think to myself; this is a Ratchet and Clank game, I should be able to see what’s behind that wall! It’s pretty disappointing, especially to long time fans of the series.

All 4 One also employs a pretty robust set of weapon upgrades you’ll obtain by playing through the game. Each character has their own set of weapons and each is fully upgradable by purchasing them at bolt machines scattered throughout All 4 One’s maps. It’s a lot of fun to go through and get these upgrades, but I constantly found myself pining for the system of old where you upgrade your weaponry would need to be used significantly before you could upgrade it. Sure the new way seems like a much more streamlined and easy to use, but the previous way almost demanded depth and experimentation with the game’s weaponry.

All 4 One is also missing the polish that Insomniac Games has made a staple of the Ratchet and Clank universe. There are occasional visual hiccups throughout the game, like mudded-out textures and boring color schemes (when compared to the bulk of the game), but by far the most frustrating presentation aspect is how crappy the camera system is. All 4 One employs a much more zoomed out camera to adapt to the new 4-player system, but it also locks at all the wrong times and frequently cuts off things like enemies and power-ups until everyone on the screen is ready to move on.

The Blast Factor: It’s a tough business being a console mascot; one wrong move and you’re doing starring roles on your former rival’s party games.  All 4 One may not be that wrong move (if anything, Secret Agent Clank takes that spot), but it’s still a step backward for the franchise. It can be frantic and fun when played with the right people, but just don’t let it be anyone’s introduction to the Ratchet and Clank franchise.

Japanese gamers may be getting the new Sony handheld; The PlayStation Vita under their Christmas trees, but don’t fret if you’re not in the far East, you won’t have much longer to wait. Sony has announced that the Vita will launch in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Australia on February 22.

The Vita, revealed last year will retail in two different models $249.99 for the Wi-Fi unit and $299.99 for 3G. By default, we now know the release date for a number of launch titles including Marvel VS Capcom 3 and Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

So…gettin’ one?

Naughty Dog released this new footage of Uncharted 3′s desert environment, and it’s downright gorgeous. Fair warning before you check it out, there’s one minor spoiler…sort of. Uncharted 3 launches for the PS3 on November 1, 2011. Enjoy!

Uncharted 3 comes out in just over a month, but if you’re really anxious, you’ll be able to experience the game’s full multiplayer suite this Saturday; and all it will cost you is a soda.

As announced at this year’s E3, Sony’s Uncharted 3 multiplayer giveaway will allow those who buy a specially marked 32 ounce sodas will receive a code to access the entire multiplayer portion of the game. The service will shutoff once the full product launches on November 1, but all saved data will transfer over to the final retail game.

If you’re hungry, subs and chips will also have codes for Uncharted themes, in-game cash and multiplayer skins.

In a move that’s going to surprise no one, it was confirmed at this year’s E3 that all Modern Warfare 3 DLC will be timed exclusives to the Xbox 360.  You didn’t expect Sony to take that lying down did you?

It was announced today that beginning with the already announced Road to Karkand,  all DLC for Modern Warfare 3′s closest competitor, EA’s Battlefield 3 will be exclusive to PS3 for one week before it hits Xbox Live.

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.

Say, would you like to play Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One? What’s that you would? Then you’re in the right place.

We’ve got two beta codes that need a home, and want that home to be with you.  How do you win? Easy, just comment below and tell us who your favorite character from the game is, and why. Only one comment per user will be counted. Winners will be chosen September 16 at 5pm.

Good luck!

Sony has announced that effective today, the 160GB PlayStation 3 model will retail for $249, $50 cheaper than it’s previous price. The 320GB console will also drop $50, going for $299.

While the announcement will no doubt spark a firestorm of “OMG PS4 to be announced!” headlines, the price drop is likely done to compete more directly with the console’s direct competitors, the Xbox 360, which retails for $199 ($299 with Kinect) and the Wii, which goes for $150 with Mario Kart bundled in.

LOS ANGELES — Naughty Dog Game Director Justin Richmond knows that it would be easy to rest on the laurels of the massive success of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves when it comes to the franchise’s highly anticipated next chapter; Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, but refuses to.

“We always want to make a game that we’re interested in playing. We want to push ourselves,” Richmond said. “We never want to rest on the laurels of the last game. Uncharted 2, it was lightning in a bottle, and we know that. It was the right people in the right studio at the right time, but we’re really proud of what we’re doing with this one.”

So just how does Richmond plan on improving what many see as one of the most impressive and memorable games in recent years? Easy; adding pretty much more of everything fans love and improving what they didn’t.

Take the game’s melee combat system for example, Richmond said that while the system worked for Uncharted 2, the team knew they could do so much more this time around.

“One of the things we really tried to improve this time around was the melee system.  We were never really happy with it in the last game and we’re working on making it as much fun as the rest of the game. We’re really taking a look at all of these little things and seeing where we can tweak them to make the game that much better.”

During our interview, we were shown two sections of the Uncharted 3 campaign, and though it’s obvious that the tweaks Richmond talked about were implemented, it was even more apparent that the studio knew what gave Uncharted its identity, big over the top action sequences. The first sequence we saw was a slightly longer version of the cruise ship level from Sony’s E3 press conference (yeah, the one with the really cool water effects) and it was clear that the scope of the game has been made to be even more massive. The level (as seen below) features a ton of interior and exterior locations, completely dwarfing the scope of the last game.

The second section we saw found Drake and Elena sneaking into an airport runway and Drake literally climbing on to the plane’s landing gear to climb on board. Once on the plane, Drake found his way to main cargo area, where he met up with an awfully large Henchmen, and a very cool battle sequence ensued (where we got to see the new melee system with contextual cues and quick time events). While the demo did show the type of over the top Hollywood style action we’re accustomed to see in the franchise, the cinematic leading up to the sequence told a different story, one not usually associated with Drake’s adventures; the heart and believability of the characters, and according to Richmond, that’s something the team is really aiming to change.”We want to be true to our characters, what they’d do, how they’d act. We feel like we have a natural progression of where the characters were in the last game to where they are now.”

But what about the characters not from the last game? Richmond then introduced us to Katherine Marlowe, the game’s new antagonist and quickly became excited about what she brings to the Uncharted saga.

“This is where the Drake’s Deception title really starts to come in. Uncharted 3 finds Nathan Drake searching for an ancient 16 century treasure, but he ends up being pulled in to an even bigger mystery filled with deceit, pitting him against a shadowy clandestine organization and the occult treachery of its cunning and ruthless leader,” Richmond said. “Marlowe is always trying to undermine Drake and getting him to do things he doesn’t want to do, it adds a brand new dynamic to the franchise.”

Uncharted 3 launches on November 1 exclusively for the PlayStation 3. Check back with Blast for more previews and coverage until the game’s release, and be sure to check out our gallery below for a ton of cool Uncharted screenshots.

A Sony distribution warehouse in North London was destroyed by a fire as a result of the third night of riots in Great Britain.

The fire will impede the deliveries of CDs and DVDs throughout the United Kingdom, since it was the only place storing Sony products in the country, a Sony representative told Rolling Stone.

The warehouse was also home to the all of PIAS UK’s products, which is the main distribution company for over 150 labels in the area, meaning independent label will take a big hit.  Labels such as Beggars Group, Sub Pop, Rough Trade, Domino and 4AD lost all inventory.

Series co-director and creator David Jaffe has announced that the highly anticipated Twisted Metal revamp won’t be making it’s expected October release date and has been pushed back to sometime in 2012. But don’t worry, Jaffe says it’s a good thing.

” I know. A lot of dedicated, supportive, passionate Twisted Metal fans have been waiting for the return of Calypso’s demented contest for a long time but the truth is: we’re just not ready yet,” Jaffe wrote on the Official PlayStation Blog. “Anyway – it sucks bad when games miss their announced launch dates. We’re gamers too and we know how annoying it is. It’s disappointing and frustrating and it really takes the wind out of your sails if you’re a fan that has been looking forward to playing a title for a long time. Thing is, you gotta trust me when I tell you that – with this extra time for tuning and polish – the game is going to be so much better than it already is. And if you played Twisted Metal and liked it at E3 or Comic-Con, or if you get to play it (and you enjoy it) at one of the August shows, just imagine how much more fun the final game will be with some extra time, polish, and love”

Jaffe closed out the post with a quote from legendary game designer and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto; ‘A late game is only late until it ships. A bad game is bad until the end of time.’

Well, scratch another toy off my Christmas list, as Sony announced earlier today that though its new handheld, The PlayStation Vita will be released this fall in Japan;  gamers in both the USA and European territories will have to wait until sometime in 2012.

Sony warned all along that the device may not be ready for release this year, but it was widely suspected that a release date would come before the end of the year.

Sony also commented that they do not plan to lower the price of the Vita as a result of the 3DS price drop issued by Nintendo last month.

You’ll soon be able to get your Game of Thrones fix right on your Xbox or PS3, thanks to HBO and Time Warner’s announcement that the on demand service HBO GO will soon be hitting consoles.

The announcement was made via a conference call with investors, and shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, as it was revealed earlier this week that over half of all Netflix instant stream users connect via a game console.

HBO GO is an on demand video service free for anyone with an HBO subscription.

We’ve been through this before with Sony’s movie-making software. I can’t list every feature — heck, I can’t even test every feature. Suffice to say, I’ve been a big fan of with the Vegas line of movie software and the Acid line of audio software for many years.

The word is usually “value.” Sony’s software is cheaper than it’s competitors, especially the Movie Studio line, which can be had for under $70 online.

If you are editing video on a PC, Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 is easier to use than Corel VideoStudio and just as good as Adobe Premiere Elements, both of which are more expensive than the Sony title.

You can import video directly from your camera, drag and drop everything into place, and export or burn the product onto a disc with full DVD or Blu-ray menus.

One feature that I found even more useful is the ability to upload your videos directly to YouTube. As you probably won’t be using $60 software to make a full-scale Hollywood motion picture, the rest of us, on YouTube, can be satisfied.

There are also intuitive tutorials built-in to the software, taking away some of the learning curve. The software is stable, streamlined, and powerful. Pound for pound, Movie Studio is a good buy.

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.

Why an elephant? Because.

Probably not. But isn’t wild internet speculation fun?

The latest rumors come after the domain microsoft-sony.com was registered and traced back to Microsoft. It could be something, or it could be nothing as domain names are known to be wacky for ass covering reasons.  But hey, who knows.

Making the rumor even more interesting is the rumor that Kotaku reported that the two companies were in active discussion regarding their new consoles — to be released in 2014.

What does it mean? Probably nothing. But he stranger things have happened. Did you ever think Mario and Sonic would be in a game together?

Every year, I have a very distinct way that I play the NCAA Football series. At any time I have no less than two different dynasties going. I always start with the Wisconsin Badgers and continue my home state’s yearly dominance over winning countless national titles, but the other is a bit more interesting. I take a random small school and through recruiting and old fashioned coaching slowly turn them into a national powerhouse; then after a few years I change schools to see if I can do it again.  This usually means giving up my numbers and record and starting over, but thanks to the coaching carousel, a new feature in this year’s game, I’m able to play in one continuous game that allows me to think and more importantly react as an actual NCAA coach.

The coaching carousel mode is just one of many additions that makes NCAA Football one of the series premiere titles. Though it has its fair share of flaws and the majority of the gameplay hasn’t been changed much, there’s still much to like here.  From a slew of new presentation improvements to a notable amount of customization options, NCAA Football  2012 finally steps out from the shadow of its big brother, the Madden NFL series and it does so by celebrating the spectacle of college football and not just the product.

The addition of the coaching carousel to the Dynasty Mode is an interesting one. You start by creating your coach from style to alma matter and of course look (admittedly though there are some curious absences here. You mean I can make my coach wear a 3 piece suit but can’t give him a 60’s era hat?) and then you pick your first coaching job. Where you go and what role you take will have a massive impact on your experience: pick an offensive or defensive coordinator and you’ll only have control over that side of the ball; but if you pick a head coach you’ll have control over the entire team. At the beginning of each season you’re given a set of goals and these are how you’re judged at the end of the season. Once your contract runs out you’ll have the option to stay with your current team (if they don’t fire you) or testing the waters otherwise.  It’s an interesting twist and a brand new way to look at a mode that had become somewhat stale in recent years.

The mode isn’t without its flaws though. Key among them is the fact that regardless of what position you choose, you’re going to be responsible for the entire team’s recruitment process, thus giving you pretty much the same responsibilities and making the feat of getting a head coaching job seem that much more trivial. What’s more, it’s entirely too easy to pull of the game’s biggest feat – landing your “dream job.” Simply create your coach and set his alma matter to whatever team you want, then make him the head coach of that school, and you’re in (interestingly enough it’s also a way to get a 30 point achievement on the Xbox 360).

Coaching carousel isn’t the only notable addition to Dynasty mode as for the first time ever you’ll be able to change around divisions and NCAA rules to your liking. The impressive customization suite was included as an answer to last year’s talk of super conferences and a dramatic realigning and is a college football fans dream. Want Norte Dame to play in the Big Ten? Go for it. Want to move a small southern team into the SEC to play with the big boys? It’s all up to you.  What’s more, you can even change bowl bids and where the bowl games happen. For instance, you can make the winner of the SEC and the winner of the Big Ten play each other in the Orange Bowl if you’d like.

Another mode that’s grown stale in recent years but given an overhaul in the 2012 game is the Road to Glory mode.  The mode, which puts you in control of one single created player now starts you back at the beginning of your senior year of high school (teams are either automatically created or you can import them using the impressive team builder). Once you choose which school you’ll be playing for, the game becomes almost more like an RPG as you’ll earn experience points to level up your player through in game play and mini games like practice performance. While you’ll start as a simple backup, you’ll eventually work your way up to becoming a trusted starter that can call his own plays and audibles at the line.

As you’d probably expect, save for a few new animations and tweaks, not much of the game’s core gameplay has been changed from last year’s installment. Unfortunately, this includes a few key elements that desperately needed tweaking. Some of the game’s physics are still a bit strange (there were several times where the ball went directly through my receiver), and the AI still has a tendency to become unbelievably good towards the end of the game especially when trailing. Come on, it’s a bit strange when you’re dominating for three and a half quarters only to have the other team suddenly become experts at interceptions and sacks.

Not all of the game’s tweaks are of the gameplay variety though, as the game features an updated presentation aspect this year.  Key among the updates is the stadium specific introductions. While not all teams have big introductions, the key ones are here like Florida State’s Chief Osceola and Renegade running on to the field and the LSU Tiger. They’re great to watch the first few times, but what about the rest of the game? If you’re going to capture the true spirit of college football, why not do something special for the end of the game?  Why does it feel the same when I beat a no name opponent as it does when I upset a top ranked team? Also notable is the fact that the game’s crowd noise has been improved dramatically and you no longer get the feeling like you’re listening to 50 fans amplified to sound like 100,000 fans; you’re actually listening to the right amount.

Much like the gameplay however, the game still suffers from some of the same visual flaws that have haunted the series for years. At random times half of players will vanish and the ball will completely go through whole objects. The new presentation aspects are great, but I almost would have rather had them wait on those until they fixed these lingering problems.

Blast Factor: Though it has its fair share of flaws, NCAA Football 2012 is easily one of the best of the franchise. With its new customization suite and revamped modes, college football fans are sure to find enough to enjoy for some time to come – or at least until next year’s game releases.

At this year’s E3, we got a lot of new information on Sony’s new handheld, The PS Vita. One thing we didn’t get though was the system’s release date, which we could know now thanks to a UK retailer.

The website Shopto.net is currently taking pre-orders for both the WiFi and 3G enabled versions of the Vita, and they’re both tagged with the release date of November 4. Apparently, the retailer says the information is straight from Sony.

Sony has issued a statement regarding the date, but interestingly enough, they’re not denying it specifically. “No one has communicated any release dates to retail partners,” Sony UK told GameSpot UK. “That date is not official as we haven’t announced anything yet.”

Though these dates are placed by retailers all the time as placeholders, this one seems to have some meat to it, and it makes sense, as November is often a time companies choose to release systems, as it allows the device to be on the shelves for the busy Holiday shopping season.

LOS ANGELES — Namco Bandai Games America has announced at E3 that a Ridge Racer title is under development for Sony’s next generation handheld, the Vita.

The company released two concept pictures of a car in the game to go with the news.

Ridge Racer (title subject to change) is due out some time after Vita launches at the end of the year.

“Players can expect high-speed drifting at break-neck speeds in high-performance racing machines with new exciting new gameplay additions. Drift racing fans looking for edge-of-your-seat action will be able to truly feel the on-screen drama through the revolutionary features of the PlayStation Vita,” the company said in a statement.

Check out the water effects on this brand new Uncharted trailer from E3. Is it November yet?

Confirming what we reported last week, Sony announced that their new handheld, previously known as The Next Generation Portable will now be known as Vita, and it will be available this Holiday.

Even more interesting, there will be two different SKUs for the upcoming system, a WiFi only model for $249.99 and a 3G model that works with AT&T for $299.99.

Sony also took the opportunity to unveil a bunch of new innovative games for the upcoming handheld including Mod Nation Racers, Little Big Planet 2 and Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

Blast will be going hands on with the new handheld and all of the major titles during this week’s E3.

LOS ANGELES — Blast Gaming Editor Joe Sinicki and Blast Editor John Guilfoil are in The Los Angeles Sports Arena for Sony’s press conference. Stick with us for up to the minute updates.

We open to a rather long video, then Jack Tretton shows up, he’s talking about the PSN hack. He days you’re welcome to the press and thanks well…pretty much everyone.

Consumers are the lifeblood of the company. He apologizes for the hack.

Triton encourages those who left or who are afraid to embrace it as a result of the hack to open up to the brand.

Sony will soon be offering free access to cinema now.

Naughty Dog is now on the stage to talk Uncharted 3. Its new footage not seen anywhere else. A boat level where Drake is constantly swaying and yes, it’s gorgeous.

Water effects are fantastic.

Like previous Uncharted games, the scale on this game is astounding.

As you’d expect, very cinematic, very cool.

Multiplayer beta begins June 28.

New contest will give people first access to entire game.

New level features Drake scaling an airplane as it takes off.

Marcus Smith from Insomniac is up to talk about Resistance 3.

Were seeing new footage from the St. Louis section of the game.

It, like most other games in the lineup is on 3D. Not completely sold on the tech, but it works well here.

Were now talking PlaystAtion move. Were getting a bundle with everything you news for the move, the sharpshooter and r3.

God of war, ice and shadow of colossus are getting 3d treatments.

Two new 3d products, one a 24 inch display. It will be able to let two people see two distinct 3d images. Were also getting a more affordable pair of 3d glasses. There’s also a bundle with the monitor, glasses And resistance for $499.

2k sports is now up to talk NBA 2k12 with the move.

NBA on the move will allow easy play with move controller.

Kobe Bryant is here. He’s going to show how easy it is to play with the move. He doesn’t seem to be doing so well.

Kobe calla the game so realistic it’s frightening. It comes out October 12.

Were now seeing medievmoves, a new move game from the team that made sports champions.

No inventory system, what weapon you use depends on what motions you use.

This reminds me of sorcery from last year. Wonder what happened to it.

It features pretty impressive 1-1 motion.

It’s available this fall.

Were looking at infamous 2. Yeah, we know it comes out tomorrow.

The game gets user created content and move support this fall. Little big planet 2 gets further move support as well.

Starhawk is up next. Great reaction from the crowd.

Jack is now talking about a return, it better be… It is…. Sly Cooper is back!

Sly Cooper: thieves on time coming next year.

Dust 514 only for PS3. Will combine with Eve Online.

The ability to create one persistent world is awesome. Dust looks great too.

Closed beta hits this fall.

Bioshock infinite is shown. Incredible.

Looks so much different than any other game on the series.

Ken Levine talks about the move and his doubts. He talks how Sony has made him a believer by allowing new people to experience his games.

Yes, Bioshock infinite will feature move functionality.

Bioshock is also coming to the NGP.

Saints row 3 will feature brand new ps exclusive content. So will the new Star Trek game.

New phaser peripheral coming.

At an alpha stage. The game looks impressive.

SSX will feature exclusive content, as will need for speed: the run.

Battlefield 3 on PS3 will include bartledie 1943 on ps3 only.

Kazuo Hirai is up to talk about NGP.

Playstation suite will allow ps content to be available on android smart phones and tablets.

It’s official. It’s PlayStation Vita. It’ll be working with AT&T for 3G versions. The crowd laughed and booed at that.

Near is a streetpass like system for vita.

Uncharted Golden Abyss is being demonstrated.

So wait, is there only touch controls for combat?

The game is very heavy on touch control.

Next were talking about Ruin, a social action rpg compatible with the vita and ps3. So far…kind of underwhelming.

Saves will work on PS3 via cloud tech.

Mod Nation Racers is coming to Vita.

Where is Kevin Butler?

Mod Nation Vita will feature a cool track editor that you can trace with your fingers. Even the lighting can be changed.

PS3 tracks will work with Vita Mod Nation Racers.

Little Big Planet Vita is coming. Will revolutionize portable gaming. Rather cool ways that the features work with already in game mechanics. It will allow you to use textures from pictures as well as the PS3 game.

Sf x Tekken is coming to Vita.

Cole from Infamous joins the game.

Vita will be available this holiday. Wifi only retails for $249. The 3G model goes for $299.

E3 2011 is under two weeks away, and it’s shaping up to be one hell of a show. As usual, there’s a ton of rumors circulating around just what’s going to be revealed June 7-9 in Los Angeles. This week, we’ll be bringing you our predictions of just what we’re going to see. Here’s our Sony predictions, be sure to check out our Nintendo predictions and our Microsoft predictions.

So are you guys as sick of hearing about the PSN hack as I am? You can bet Sony is too, and that’s why I don’t think Sony is going to spend a ton of time on it. Oh, don’t get me wrong — they’re going to talk about it. They have to. They’ll apologize for the incident, perhaps even go into a bit more detail of how it happened, then they’ll talk about how they’ve overhauled the network’s security features. Sony is going to spend most of its time talking about their future and their lineup.

Key for that lineup? Is the NGP (or PS Vita as we may be calling it before long). We already know that Sony’s new portable will be playable at the show, but expect more — we’ll finally get a price, release date and a clear launch lineup. I’m going to go ahead and say $299, released in November with games like Modnation Racers, Little Big Planet and Uncharted leading the way. On top of that, we’ll also get some cool new features announced for the NGP that are going to make folks get really antsy for it.

But what about exclusives for the big guy? What about the PS3? I kind of think that Sony was a little too eager announcing their big name franchises earlier this year and late last; for instance, we already know about a new Uncharted, a new Ratchet and Clank, a new Resistance and Twisted Metal. We’ll get more information on those titles, but don’t count Sony out; they’ve got a few tricks up their sleeves. Look forGod of War IV to be formally announced as well as a possible Mod Nation Racers sequel. We’ll also get news of connectivity between the PS3 and the NGP as well as further information on the PSP masters collection coming to America.

I also fully expect to see the long rumored game for Heavy Rain creator David Cage. You know, the one he thinks is better than pretty much anything that’s ever come before it? It won’t be Heavy Rain 2 though.

Random prediction, Kevin Butler will return to the stage and it will be awesome.

So what about the PS Move? Much like Microsoft and Kinect, this year is essential for Sony to solidify it’s peripheral, and they’ll deliver. We’ll get more information on Sorcery as well as a few new titles including Eye Pet 2. The big news of the prsser, look for Sony to announce Move support for a major third party title. Will it be Modern Warfare 3? Perhaps Grand Theft Auto V? A new Star Wars game?

Oh, and also, Sony’s press conference is going to be 5 hours. Well…sort of. It’s going to be a welcome session, the conference, then the ability to play everything unveiled right there, and then a reception with a mystery musical guest. Anyone want to venture a guess as to who it’s going to be?

What do you expect to see at this year’s E3? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to keep with Blast during this year’s E3, as we’ll be live blogging the press conferences and giving you our hands on impressions of the latest games and info.

One of the big rumors going into next month’s E3 in Los Angeles is that we’re finally going to get a real name for Sony’s Next Generation Portable, or PSP2 as it’s been dubbed. If rumors are to be believed, we won’t have to wait that long as reports say the handheld will be renamed the Vita, which means life in Italian.

The rumors were first reported by website Games Pundit, which cite the always shady unnamed source with the leak. Then, the folks over at Mega Rock Blog posted pictures with the name stamped on the system.

You didn’t think they’d go with the PSP2 did you?

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.

UK based magazine PlayGamer is reporting that Sony is  hard at work on a sequel to 2007′s PS3 exclusive Heavenly Sword.

According to the magazine, the sequel will be set ten years after the events of the original and feature a sandbox style world with replayable missions. The magazine also reports that the titular Heavenly Sword won’t be available at the beginning of the game, but rather you’ll spend the majority of the game in search of it.

Released in 2007, Heavenly Sword has sold over 1.5 million copies was one of the first major exclusives for the PS3.

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

It hasn’t exactly been the greatest week for Sony. The publishing giant has been dealing with the downfall of last week’s continuing PSN outage and things keep getting worse. Now, the government is getting involved. Sort of.

US Senator Richard Blumenthal (D- Connecticut) has issued a strongly worded letter to Sony in search of answers he says Sony isn’t providing in the wake of the security intrusion. “I understand that the PlayStation Network allows users to store credit card information online to facilitate the purchasing of content such as games and movies through the PlayStation Network,” reads the letter.  ”A breach of such a widely used service immediately raises concerns of data privacy, identity theft, and other misuse of sensitive personal and financial data, such as names, email addresses, and credit and debit card information.”

Blumenthal doesn’t just want answers though, he wants Sony to take care of the credit reports of anyone effected. “When a data breach occurs, it is essential that customers be immediately notified about whether and to what extent their personal and financial information has been compromised. Additionally, PlayStation Network users should be provided with financial data security services, including free access to credit reporting services, for two years, the costs of which should be borne by Sony. Affected individuals should also be provided with sufficient insurance to protect them from the possible financial consequences of identity theft.”

CEO Jack Tretton, who the letter is addressed to has yet to issue comment on the letter.

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

Last year’s God of War 3 wrapped up the trilogy that told the story of Kratos and his quest for vengeance against the gods, but it appears we may be seeing more God of War rather soon, if the latest issue of PSM3 is to be believed.

“PSM3 has heard from another source that God of War 4 is coming, and will hit in September 2012,” the latest issue of the respected UK Magazine states, “ ”Our source works closely with the God of War universe, and let slip he’d be working on a related project at the same time.”

The rumor comes hot off the heels of speculation that the next God of War game will feature online multiplayer following a job posting looking for a programmer with multiplayer experience to join the God of War team.

Since the end of God of War 3, Sony has stated that there will be further God of War titles released, could we see a reveal at E3?

In a move that will surprise pretty much no one, Sony has announced that it has officially stopped production on its all digital PSPgo handheld in order to “in order to concentrate on the NGP (sony’s Next Generation Portable).”

The original PSP will still be produced. “”It will continue to be sold, and we will keep focusing our attention on it from here on out,” a Sony spokesman said.

While there’s no doubt that Sony will use the resources freed up by cutting production on the handheld towards the upcoming NGP, it’s hard not to think that the move was sped up due to the system’s floundering performance since launch. Released in 2009, the Go never really caught on with gamers and had its price slashed late last year.

Farewell PSPgo, we hardly knew ye….no really, because we never bought one…