Sony plans on implementing the full-on 3D support via a simple firmware update available for all current PS3 consoles, and will also release titles in 3D that’ll likely blow our minds.

You’ll have to wear a fruity pair of glasses and look like an Agent from the Matrix to play the games, or buy a 3D-supported television to enjoy these games, but the way I see it, 3D has to be the next step in gaming/television, right?

Here’s Sony’s strategy, imaged. Let us know what you think!

Source: Kotaku

The first thing you will notice after popping A Crack in Time into your PS3 is the graphics–this is highly polished, very colorful, very creative stuff. During cutscenes, it looks and sounds like a cartoon, maybe even something Pixar would have made. During the actual gameplay, the physics, explosions, guns and the worlds you play on will also impress, as the game is loaded with graphical effects (heat coming off of lava, snow and rain falling from the sky, etc.) that really pop thanks to the PS3. Enemies animate wonderfully, while living and while dying, everything just flat out works. It’s one of the better looking titles on the system thanks to strong art direction and wonderful animation.

Gameplay wise, there’s plenty to love. With Ratchet, you have multiple modes with which to play. The first of these is somewhat standard to the series, as you have different levels on different planets, each with its own distinct look and feel. These planets have a fair share of shooting along with platforming–while the platforming in these areas never gets to be too difficult, the number of enemies (and the difficulty of said enemies) increases as you go through the game enough that you don’t get bored. If you’re playing this game on Hard, you will need to be on top of your game in the later levels, or you will die fast.

The second Ratchet mode reminds me of two different Mario experiences–Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy. When you land on the moons that are scattered throughout each solar system, you have the opportunity to collect more mods for your weapons, rare items and Zoni–all of which will be explained in detail later. These moons is where you will find the platforming challenge, as they are designed to be more skill-based than the planets themselves. The Sunshine reminder comes from their increased difficulty and variation from the standard gameplay–remember the hidden stages in Super Mario Sunshine, where you no longer had the water pack and had to do things the old fashioned way? The Galaxy portion comes from the spherical levels–yes, I know Ratchet & Clank have had spherical levels before, but the design reminds me of Galaxy in many ways. While optional, these are worth your time, and not just for the rewards that they hold. Completing them is a reward on its own, given the increased challenge and lengthening of the gameplay experience.

Last, and very much least, you have space. You fly around in your ship from planet to planet (with pit stops at moons along the way), but there are side missions for you to complete that are sometimes worth it, like towing a downed ship in order to get a few thousand bolts (the game’s currency). Most of the time though, you can’t be bothered. There is very boring fighting in space, as you just hold R1 and L1 to fire beams and missiles in the hopes of hitting something and getting back to the good stuff. The enemy ships don’t do much to fight back either, and they don’t do a very good job of getting out of the way of your shots; it just wasn’t necessary. Maybe space will evolve into a worthwhile frontier in another Ratchet & Clank game, but A Crack in Time is not the one where this happens. Thankfully this is the portion of the game you will spend the least amount of time on, especially if you just quick jump from place to place.

Besides Ratchet’s ever-present Omniwrench, which is both weapon and tool, you have a massive arsenal of guns at your disposal. You’ve got your basic laser gun, grenades, a rocket launcher, a shotgun, and then you’ve got the guns that let Insomniac show off their imagination. How about the equivalent of a space pig with a trigger that burps enemies to death? Or a chargeable ball of electricity that you can roll around effectively using Six Axis controls while you run from danger? Maybe a sniper rifle with a bioscope that marks enemy weak points for you–shooting stuff in the head isn’t always the answer, you know. There are tons of guns to choose from, and also plenty of ways to improve them. You can pick up Constructo Mods, which alter the way your weapon fires, whether it explodes on impact or not, the type of damage it will cause, etc. You can also level up your weapons by using them–this increases damage, rate of fire, area of effect, ammo capacity and the like. Once a weapon reaches level five, it morphs into an even more powerful version of the previous weapon. Your grenades get schrapnel, for instance, while your rocket launcher fires three rockets per round rather than one.

The strange thing is that I would find myself moving on to another gun despite creating a super powered one, because I wanted to see what else it had to offer me through use. There’s nothing that can be pointed at as useless in Ratchet’s arsenal–you will find a place for everything, even in the weapons that may seem odd at the point of sale.

Clank’s levels may be the best portion of the game though, as they are time-bending puzzles that will require you to take off that Lombax battle armor and instead use that robotic intellect. It’s somewhat tough to visualize, but here is Clank’s gameplay in a nutshell: you have puzzles where Clank needs to be in multiple places at once in order to open the door out of the room. There could be anywhere from one to three door opening switches in the room, plus additional switches that open up pathways to reach those door switches. Each of these switches works only when Clank is standing on them though, which is why he needs to be in multiple places at once.

In order to do this, you need to use the Timepads to record Clank stepping on the switch–after recording, you can play it back, and a copy of Clank will perform the action you just recorded while Clank goes off to a different time pad to record yet another instance of platforming. Early puzzles are simple–there’s one switch and two Timepads, so make a copy to get on the switch while you run through the door. The later ones though require a lot of trial and error in order to progress, as you will need to make copies that open up pathways that lead to switches that lead to new pathways for previous copies so that they can step on a switch that clears a path, and so on. These are very satisfying to complete, and are just the right level of difficulty where you want to keep trying at it without wanting to throw your controller elsewhere. My biggest issue with them is that there were just not enough of them–Ratchet is still the star, despite Clank’s superior gameplay. That’s not a knock on Ratchet either, but it goes to show you how fun Clank’s sections are.

When you combine the multiple Ratchet elements with Clank’s puzzling, you end up with a fine Ratchet & Clank game that makes you want to play often. The game features multiple difficulties as well as a challenge mode, and with loads to collect in the form of Contructo Mods, gold bolts and the Zoni that upgrade your ship’s weaponry and abilities, there’s plenty to do outside of the standard levels. The Argonian tournaments may be my favorite part though, as they throw you into some ridiculous gladiator challenges that will require a full knowledge of your weaponry and enemy weaknesses if you want to win. The rewards–bolts, weapons and upgrades–are worth the price of admission, but you’ll find yourself here just for the challenge too. Plus, the game is just funny, no matter which character you use, so it’s worth it to you to extend the game to find all of the humor in it.

Blast Factor: While there are still some things to iron out in the form of space, and Clank could have stood to get a little more spotlight, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time holds up as the definitive Ratchet & Clank experience, one that should delight fans of the series while also converting holdouts and making them believers. It’s a quality title that should not be overlooked in this busy holiday season, and despite its cartoon appearance, it’s a game that people of all ages can enjoy.

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time is available exclusively on the Playstation 3, and retails for $59.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

The news broke in a mundane fashion with SCEA senior VP of business development Phil Rosenberg simply saying “As of last week, we’ve already sold over a million copies in just a couple of weeks on the market.”

Now, that figure pales in comparison to Modern Warfare 2’s nearly 5 million, not to mention Activision sold that many in just one day, but Uncharted 2 is also a PS3-exclusive and, in my estimation, less marketable than the mainstream FPS Modern Warfare 2.

In any event, Uncharted 2 was one of the best reviewed games we’ve ever seen. And if you missed our review, check it out here.

Source: Destructoid

Let’s start with the shiny and fun stuff: Uncharted 2 has the most impressive graphics I’ve ever seen on a console game. If that sounds like hyperbole, then you haven’t seen Uncharted 2 in action, so quit your whining and go find out for yourself before you contradict me. Animations are fluid and realistic. The environments, which were part of what drew people to the original game in the first place, are brighter, colorful, and just feel alive. There are parts of this game that approach photo realistic, and the cutscenes use the in-game engine (Naughty Dog Engine 2.0, an upgraded version) to tell the game’s story–the seamless transitions between cutscenes and in-game events is impressive, to say the least.

The music in the game is wonderful in its ambient nature, rising and falling at all of the right times to increase tension and keep you focused on the game world. Sound effects are satisfying to hear–explosions, gun fire, the chatter of Nathan Drake as he rolls away from grenades or pops a guy in the head with a shot. Most wonderful is the voice acting though–the writing and acting are of such high quality that the game is almost as entertaining to watch as it is to play. Nathan is a lovable lead, but the supporting cast is just as entertaining–old favorites in Sully and Elena return, along with newbies like Harry Flynn and Chloe, two characters who have a history with Nate that are with you through various means throughout the adventure.

The story is well done (just like in the first game) so even if you begin to tire of shooting from behind cover at your enemies, you will want to keep playing to hear that next line or see the tale unfold. I won’t spoil a thing for you, but the game begins in the midst of the action, with Drake falling out of a train car that’s suspending from a snowy mountain. Flashbacks bring you into the past, and you play your way right back to the scene after a significant number of hours. It’s a neat mechanic that is not seen very often in games, and it worked to great effect here as you re-lived the events of Drake’s life leading up to his being half-dead in the snow.

Uncharted 2’s gameplay is split into three distinct sections: platforming, puzzles, and shooting. The puzzles in this sequel are improved from the first–they aren’t as painfully obvious, and you now get to flip through a few pages of your journal at a time in order to figure out just where Nate has seen this puzzle before. They are still simple though, but enjoyable to solve. The platforming is the more significant part of the gameplay, as you will spend a huge chunk of your time in Uncharted 2 climbing, jumping, and trying your best not to look down. Climbing isn’t as easy as it was in say, inFAMOUS, where you automatically latch on to everything, but that’s because there are more specific paths for Drake and company in this game than in that one starring a super powered protagonist. Climbing is satisfying, and sometimes finding the right path is a puzzle unto itself–a more challenging one than the actual puzzles at times. There’s a hint system in place if you take too long, and you can press up on the D-pad when notified one is available to see it. It’s helpful, especially your first time through the game, as it just points you in the right direction without actively telling you what needs to be done.

You’ll spend more time shooting than anything in Uncharted 2, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Luckily, the controls are tighter, and for this reason you’ll have much more fun blasting away mercenaries than you did in the original. For one, grenades are now thrown by holding L2 to create a throwing arc, and then releasing it to toss your grenade. Need a quick explosion? Naughty Dog’s got you covered there too, as you can now blind fire a grenade using your reticule as a quick and dirty guide; hold L1 and press L2 to fire your grenades this way. I use this more often than the more accurate system, just because there isn’t always time to setup a grenade lob. Plus, it’s a hand grenade, and almost counts here; you don’t need to be spot on with each one to do damage.

Due out November 3, the new hunk of plastic is exactly the same as the 120 GB model Sony released in September, just with a larger hard drive.

Sony also announced that over 600 million pieces of digital content have been downloaded from the PlayStation Network to date, so you all must want a larger drive, right?

The extra space however comes at a premium. This new model will run you $350 instead of $299, but with so many games, movies/TV shows, music, photos and PlayStation Network downloads to get after, and only a finite amount of space for them, a larger hard drive is something to consider.

Full story at PlayStation.Blog

We’ve long heard rumors of its development, but a post on the official Sony forums today by a Naughty Dog (Uncharted series) developer, seems to not only prove its existence, but announce that it’s coming soon.

In response to a fan question asking about enemy spectating Uncharted 2, Alex ReklissAbandon wrote, in reference to corss-game chat in Uncharted 2 and how it might seem unfair.

“But I will suggest it anyway,” ReklissAbandon wrote. “Not to mention that the next PS3 firmware update is going to allow cross game chat. So if players use that instead of in game communication then they would also be able to communicate enemies positions.”

The post was quickly deleted, thus seemingly verifying its truth, and the Naughty Dog developer, well, we can only imagine what happened to him for spilling the beans.

Source: Kotaku

The photo, which popped up on NeoGAF, was reportedly taken in Shreveport, Louisiana on the set of the upcoming film Battle: Los Angeles.

According to its listing on IMDB, the film is being made by Columbia Pictures, which Sony owns, and is scheduled to release February 2011.

Speaking with IGN, an Insomniac Games representative said  “We’ve made no announcements at this time,” which sounds a lot like “Yupp” to me.

In the lettering of Resistance on the billboard, the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty are clearly visible, begging the question, is the third installment set in New York City?

Just so we’re all clear. This image is from a movie set, but when Sony or Insomniac Games decide to break the silence, you’ll hear it here!

Source: IGN

According to the PlayStation.Blog, the overly cute project for PSP and PSPgo, will hit retailers and the PSN, November 17 in North America.

Here’s the final boxart for the game. Nothing too special, but creative enough for me to believe MediaMolecule made it!

In other LittleBigPlanet news, Sony unleashed a “Who Sacks the Watchmen?” DLC pack on the PSN for the PlayStation 3 version this week.

We’ll have a review of LittleBigPlanet PSP next month, and stick with us for our continued coverage of the game!

Fans of the console versions of Gran Turismo will love how you can just jump right into the action here. First and foremost, the controls, the physics, and the feel of the handling are done amazingly right. Even on the PSP, Gran Turismo still feels like a racing simulator. The sensation of speed mixed with great graphics further assures a true GT experience.

Beyond that, there are the cars and tracks. 35 tracks full of variety and challenge around the world make sure that you’ll have plenty of road to conquer. And you’ll need to learn them well to make enough money to buy even a fraction of the 800+ cars in the game. Like all Gran Turismo titles, every car is a real, licensed vehicle, ranging from familiar Toyotas and Mazdas, amazing and challenging supercars, and a huge variety of gorgeous exotic dream machines. The dealerships in the game offer a limited amount at a time, rotating models and styles at random, so there’s almost always something new to offer.

All the cars and tracks are modeled with remarkable accuracy as well, and GT is certainly one of the best looking racers (if not the best) on the PSP. Still, there’s regular, if slight texture tearing on the tracks, but the framerate is rock solid and there’s little else to complain about. The audio is pretty good as well. Certainly not as powerful as the console versions, the car engines and race sounds are still modeled with an ear for detail and realism.

If there’s a real problem with the portable GT, it’s in the lack of a true career mode. You can instead jump right into a single race with whatever cars and tracks you have access to at any time. Choose the number of laps, the car, the track and go. The only options are to race against a measly three other cars, or race yourself in a time trial or drift event. The latter is an interesting feature for diehard racers, as drifting in GT requires a good deal more skill than in more arcade-styled racers.

The closest thing the game has to a career mode is the challenge mode, which starts as a training ground for drivers. In this mode, you complete an wide array of driving tasks to build your track skills. There’s little actual bonus rewards for the challenges though, and while these events add some needed variety to the racing, a full-on career mode is still sorely lacking.

The other big problem with the game, especially as a Triple-A launch title for the PSPGo is the lack of online multiplayer. For a game meant to show off an entirely internet-centric gaming system, only having local wireless play is awfully anticlimactic. The multiplayer action is certainly rock solid, but this would have been a golden opportunity to evolve GT into an online community with leaderboards and tournaments much like the competition on the big consoles. On the upside however, you’ll actually be able to boost your garage in the upcoming PS3 version with the cars you unlock now.

Blast Factor: Gran Turismo has made an overall successful leap to the portable realm. The driving and variety of cars is still amazing, the graphics are excellent, and for lovers of serious racing, GT is still king. It’s a great racing game in need of evolution, but those are mostly complaints that are easier to level on the PS3 version. As far as portable racers go, GT is still the king.

Gran Turismo is available exclusively on the PSP and PSP Go, and retails for $39.99

Ghostbusters released on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, DS, and PC five months ago but finally Sony’s portable faithful, and new adopters of tomorrow’s PSPgo debut, can enjoy the ghost bustin’ game.

Red Fly Studios, the team behind the Wii and PS2 versions, handled the development duties for the PSP project, so we can likely expect much of the same, but this is a good thing.

No longer will the digital copy files be housed on a separate DVD, rather they’ll be packed right in on the disc easily transferable through your PS3, and will begin November 10 with the release of Godzilla and will continue with “select releases” moving forward including The Ugly Truth.

“Blu-ray is already known as the best way to watch movies at home, and now SPHE & SCEA are also making it the most convenient way to watch movies on the go,” said Rich Marty, Vice President of New Business Development at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Marty continued, “This latest enhancement to Blu-ray and Digital Copy demonstrates the versatility of the format and its ability to deliver a multi-platform video experience. It also showcases the unique advantage that the PlayStation 3 brings to the Blu-ray consumer.”

Anybody do this? I never have. Though I likely should, with my shiny new PS3.

Ever wonder what a massive  blue PSP 3000 looks like on the sunny Las Vegas strip? Well, know you know!

via Kotaku

The PSPgo, the worst kept secret of E3 2009, has no UMD drive, and will instead rely 100% on digital downloads, a move that has lead some retail outlets to not even carry the thing.

It's freakin' tiny

Sony is offering a rewards program for European regions though. There, gamers can download three titles, of 17 total, at no charge. The list includes Resistance: Retribution, Patapon, and Wipeout Pure.

However, the rest of us, in North America, will not enjoy any such luxury.

“We have a dual platform strategy,” the rep said. “PSPgo is the latest offering in our portable entertainment products targeted for the digitally savvy and early adopters who are looking for an easy way to experience entertainment and a wide variety of digital content.”

“We will continue to be committed to our existing PSP users by offering over 16,000 pieces of digital content including games, mini’s, movies, television shows and SensMe, the new music application as well as UMDs,” the rep added.

So if you’ve amassed a robust library of disc-based PSP games and were hoping to recieve a voucher to download each, sorry, doesn’t look like it’s happening.

The PSPgo goes on sale October 1 priced at $249.99

via IGN

The motion controller, still not officially named, was announced at E3 2009 in June, and will be used in the “Resident Evil 5: Director’s Cut” when it releases in spring of 2010 but we’ve got in-game footage of it today!

What do you think about Resident Evil 5 using motion control? Will you buy into it?

via Kotaku

The limited edition system has a 250GB hard drive and is decorated with a sleek pink and white Final Fantasy emblem, with a matching white controller to round out the package.

We like what we see and truly hope Sony expands availability to the United States so we can get our hands on one of them.

As always, click each image to make superhugeawesome.

via Kotaku

The PS3 Slim, as we’re calling it, went on sale Sept. 1, (I got mine early), and with its 120GB hard drive, Blu-Ray player, and smaller overall size, while offering the same functionality, was a damn popular hunk of gaming goodness.

When September’s official NPD numbers come in we’ll know if Sony was exaggerating, but for now we’ll believe the Sony-produced numbers.

Anyone out there pick up a PS3 Slim? If so, why?

The mysterious dissapearance of Erolissi Marr, the goddess of Love has cast a dark cloud over the world of Norrath and it’s up to y-o-u to travel to the Shard of Love and conquer all foes in your way.

Beyond the new storyline, “Shards of Destiny” adds an achievment system ( like WoW), as well as Chronomagic and housing additions.

Here’s Sony’s official description of the update:

• Chronomagic: Down-tier your level to experience content you may have previously missed while you were leveling up
• Enter the Shard of Love: For the first time ever, players will be able to explore the home of Erollisi Marr
• All new 4x Dungeon: Test your skills in Miragul’s Planar Shard
• Achievement System: Track and share your accomplishments with other players
• Housing Addition: All houses will receive a new room where you can use your creativity and expand your collections

The update is now live, but here’s some screens to hold you over.

According to the minutes, Sony has pegged Spring 2010, March specifically, as the release schedule for the company’s E3 2009 revealed motion controller.

Also mentioned was a “PS2 emulator for PS3″ which goes on to claim “SCEA wants to sell all PS2 titles on PSN.”

But where we get truly and fully excited is over the mentioning of bringing DreamCast games to the PSN, as downloadable items. If that were to happen, well, Marc, our fearless leader, would squeal..just a little bit.

Read the full story, and examine the exact notes, at Joystiq.com.

The player is capable of typical features like playing Blu-Ray dics and DVDs as well as streaming several kinds of pay and free video content from Sony’s BRAVIA Internet platform, including content from YouTube and Slacker. Late this fall, the player will also get streaming content from Netflix.

“Whether its full HD 1080p or streaming video and audio from the Internet, entertainment comes in so many flavors that consumers want choice,” said Chris Fawcett, vice president of Sony Electronics’ home audio and video business “Leading the entertainment experience, Sony brings the best of both worlds together in one player that offers more content than other stand-alone devices on the market.”

The BDP-N460 is capable of 1080p output and is compatible with the latest audio codecs. It is even BD-LIVE compatible with a broadband Internet connection and external storage.

The device incorporates cross search functionality with the BRAVIA Internet platform, making finding content much easier. It also includes Sony’s Precision Upscale HD, which upscales DVDs to near HD resolutions. The player even prevents damage to discs and itself using Sony’s Precision Drive technology, which helps detect and correct wobbling discs in the drive.

The device is available now, and retails for around $250.

�Alter the Ending”is the band’s follow up to 2006’s �Dusk and Summer”, though Carrabba released an acoustic album�The Shade of Poison Trees” in 2007. The band also contributed the song, �Finishing School” to the Jennifer’s Body soundtrack which comes out this month.

Dashboard will be previewing songs on a nation wide tour later this fall. The dates begin November 7, and the band will travel across the entire US until mid-December with New Found Glory, Never Shout Never and Meg & Dia as tour support.

The dates for the Dashboard Confessional fall tour are as follows and on sale announcements will be made on Monday, September 14.

11/07 Louisville, KY Whitney Hall/Kentucky Center
11/08 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theater
11/09 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium
11/11 Salt Lake City, UT McKay Center
11/13 San Jose, CA San Jose Civic Center
11/14 Irvine, CA Bren Events Center
11/15 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium
11/17 San Diego, CA Soma
11/18 Tempe, AZ Marquee Theater
11/20 Oklahoma City, OK Bricktown Ballroom
11/21 San Antonio, TX Sunset Station
11/22 Dallas, TX Palladium Ballroom
11/24 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
11/27 Pompano Beach, FL Pompano Amphitheater
11/28 Orlando, FL House of Blues
11/29 Orlando, FL House of Blues
12/03 Lowell, MA Tsongas Arena
12/04 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
12/05 Pittsburgh, PA Ice Garden Arena
12/07 New York City Nokia Theater
12/08 New York City Nokia Theater
12/09 New York City Nokia Theater
12/11 Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom
12/12 Detroit, MI Fillmore Detroit
12/13 Toronto, ON Kool Haus
12/14 Toronto, ON Kool Haus
12/16 Richmond, VA The National
12/17 Charlotte, NC Fillmore Charlotte
12/18 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle

According to Gizmodo, who sent an intern to a Daytona Beach Best Buy, the systems are in healthy stock awaiting your purchase.

So if you’re in the market for a smaller, lighter, cheaper, and more capable PlayStation 3, call your local Best Buy/GameStop/anyone who sells electronics, ask if they’ve got ‘em in stock, buy one, and enjoy the spoils of HD gaming!

Gizmodo

Also, anyone else think the hunk of hardware is pretty unnatractive? Even if I had a few too many, this little lady wouldn’t be able to get me going. But I’m still buying one.

As always, click each image to make super awesome huge large.

Soon all you’ll need is a PS3 or PC and a copy of DC Universe Online.

Yes, the age of sewing your own costumes and jumping off tall structures is over now that Sony Online Entertainment will be their new super hero MMORPG based in the DC comic book universe.  I was lucky enough to sit with Wes Yanagi, Senior Producer at SOE, as he showed me all the cool features in the upcoming game.

Yanagi chose to describe DC Universe Online in an interesting way.  He decided to call it an “Action MMO,” making it clear that this game was unique when compared to the numerous Massively Multiplayer Online games available today.  What makes DC Universe Online an Action MMO is that none of the combat sequences need to be scripted and waited on.  Instead of planning out attack sequences, players can improvise with the control their super hero by rattling off seamless punching, kicking or power attack combos instantaneously.

The features in the RPG portion of the game are exciting as well.  Upon creating a character (using the character creator as described a few paragraphs below), players will be able to decide if they would like to become a villain or hero in the DC Universe.  This choice will determine how characters will approach quests and which famous super hero NPCs (Batman, Bizarro and Wonder Woman, just to name a few) they will interact with.  As characters level up, players will be able to “build their own legacy,” as they game namesake within the super hero/villain communities.  Eventually, players get their characters invited to join the Justice League or Legion of Doom, depend on which moral route they take.  Also, with the in-game stories and quests being written by some of DC’s most famous writers, the RPG aspect of DC Universe Online is an exciting prospect for even the most casual of comic book fans.

No DC Universe-based game would be complete without the ability to visit some famous landmarks.  The folks with Sony Online Entertainment recognized this need and developed their upcoming game accordingly.  Players will be able to take their characters to such places as Metropolis, Gotham City, Justice League and Legion of Doom headquarters, STAR Labs and many others.  Though I wasn’t able to get a look at places like Gotham or Metropolis (the concept art of these places is available in our gallery below), I was able to look at some in-game action inside STAR Labs and the Justice League HQ.  The environments seemed authentic, clean and rendered well, which is no surprise given that many of the game’s locations were created and designed by legendary comic book artist Jim Lee.  I especially enjoyed the intricate and brightly colored designs in STAR labs.  I can’t wait to see more in-game renders as they are unveiled.

Sony also stepped up and created a legitimate character creator for DC Universe Online.  The creator is based on three basic concepts of customization: the super power of the character, the power source of that super power and the movement style of the character.  The super powers include options such as fire, ice or mental abilities while the power sources can be anything from a simple ring on your character’s finger to something as complex as your character’s eyes.  Finally, the movement style of your character can be walking, flying or possibly something in-between.  The character creator also allows players to completely customize their character’s costume, color scheme and accessories, making it nearly impossible to find someone else who has the exact same super hero as yourself.

Once a color scheme and costume is established, all items that are picked up and equipped on a player (such as a helmet or body armor) will automatically adjust to your character’s design.  For instance, say you find a green item but your scheme is red.  DC Universe Online’s developers have found a way to change the item’s color to match your scheme when it is equipped.  Also, lets say you’ve found a helmet that looks good on your character, but you’ve also acquired a less-fashionable helmet that has better stats.  Instead of having to choose between the two, players can now just take the statistically better helmet and make it look exactly the same as the better looking one.  These two features allow players to avoid that multicolored “hobo” look that many gamers encounter in MMORPGs.

There’s very little to not like about how DC Universe Online is coming together.  It’s a game that is clearly staying true to its roots and addressing many issues that MMO fans have grown to hate.  Unless there is some fatal flaw in the gameplay or gaming engine, there wont be much that could hold DC Universe Online back from becoming a very popular and entertaining RPG when it drops sometime late 2009 / early 2010.

White Knight Chronicles is a mix of traditional single-player questing as well as a co-op mode that differs from the main story. In both modes you fight with a combination of real-time and turn-based actions, somewhat like Final Fantasy XII, but in my short time with it I felt like the menus and battles flowed more smoothly. Each attack has a cool down period in the sense that your turn needs to come up again before you can once again attack, but you are free to move around the map engaging the foes you wish to fight and avoiding those you do not. You can also use this to your advantage to dodge incoming attacks or attack an enemy from behind, which can be helpful with some of the bigger enemies when you try to set up more powerful attacks.

The characters have a variety of moves, such as regular strikes, jumping slashes, lunging attacks, etc. You will use all of them, and on different enemies, especially since you can target specific areas of an enemy’s body. Taking down a tall creature at the knees so you can lunge and jump slash his head is a satisfying endeavor. If you want to wipe out an enemy with a little style, you can do so, as the game features a combo creator. There are no default combos, as you have to create them on your own. You have a number of action points that you can build up as the game progresses, and you refill them by fighting and defeating enemies. When I picked up the controller, the character I was using had his gauge set to seven of these, so I was able to make a combo that used up to seven action points. You can build this combo using any of the attacks you have at your disposal, so what I essentially did was set the combo to slash, lunge, then jumping slash, and while suspended in mid-air iceballs and fireballs would be shot out before the final blow was delivered. You have to press the attack button at the right time in order to initiate each move, but it’s not difficult to time it, as it works just like your regular attacks, only in succession rather than one at a time broken up by cool down periods. Besides combos, you can also customize your battle menu as well, and save them for future use. While it may require some upkeep, that’s a great addition to have as you can be prepared for whatever comes your way.

The game looks very good–it is already out in Japan, so that is to be expected–but that does not take away from it. The art style is nice and bright, as we should expect from Level 5, and you can customize your main character–referred to as your avatar–to your heart’s content before you begin the game. This is where White Knight Chronicles gets a bit confusing, but hear Level 5 out on this one: your avatar is sort of the main character, but he is not the one who can change into the White Knight. That honor goes to Leonard, who is also sort of the main character. You can only change into the White Knight during the main story, which is where Leonard is available. You use those action points for the White Knight just like you would a combo, simply by scrolling through a menu with the D-pad during battle. Leonard turns into a giant that is the equal in size and strength of some of the larger enemies I saw in my playtime, and he delivers the expected beat down from a knight his size. It’s a neat mechanic, especially since the White Knight has his own move set independent of the combos Leonard utilizes.

Your avatar is still important, even if he’s incapable of turning into the legendary White Knight. That’s because this is the character you will control in the co-op and online portions of the game. Quests, each one an hour long, will be available to play, and even though we have had to wait for a longer time to play than Japan, we will also end up with more quests than them. In the end, I’ll take the extra content over the earlier release. I sadly did not get to test out any of these quests, but there will be tons of them–if you dig the quests, you will spend more time with them than the main story, especially if you have three other friends who want to play with you online.

White Knight Chronicles looks to be a mix of a few different RPG ideas, and from what I have seen, it looks like it is going to be a great entry on the Playstation 3, especially for RPG-starved owners. While traditional turn-based lovers may be turned off at first, you may want to keep an eye on this one, as it blends real-time with turn-based in an effective way. Sadly, you have to keep that eye trained on it for quite a bit, as it is due out in the beginning of 2010. We’ll have more details for you on White Knight Chronicles as they release.

Launched in Fall of 2008, LBP was an ambitious and seemingly risky brand new intellectual property. But man, oh man, did the gamble pay off, as LBP quickly earned accolade after accolade for its excellence.

Let’s put that 1 million figure into crazy perspective why don’t we?

If Sony did their math correctly, and they probably did, a unique and new LBP level is uploaded, on average, every 21 seconds.

How many have YOU contributed?

That’s why we pay attention to simulations such as this though, because it gives us something to argue about until the game itself happens. Personally I would have liked to see Sony simulate the game 100, 1000 or 10,000 times, and then tell us the percentage of times each team won, but as far as water cooler or bar arguments go, simulating a single game works too. Sony was also kind enough to send over details from the game, with key contributors and the final score. Check out that information after the jump, and take a look at the screens from this year’s edition of The Show as well. We scored it very well when it released, so if you’re into baseball and don’t own it, change that.

“PlayStation has tremendous momentum coming out of E3, and we are seeing positive growth with more than 350 titles slated to hit across all our platforms, including many anticipated games from our publishing partners,” Armour said. “We enjoy healthy business relationships with and greatly value our publishing partners and are working closely with them to deliver the best entertainment experience.”

We’ve got more questions into Armour and will post more as we get answers!

“I’m getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don’t make it easy for me to support the platform. It’s expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better. Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation,” he says.

However, Kotick does forsee one possible move that he is urging Sony to make if they don’t want their ties cut with Activision, and yes, you probably already know what it is.

“They have to cut the price, because if they don’t, the attach rates (the number of games each console owner buys) are likely to slow. If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony.”

If Activison does indeed sever their ties with Sony that would mean crazy-popular franchises including Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, and Tony Hawk, among others would become exclusive to Nintendo and Microsoft.

Maybe Kotick hasn’t heard of Sony’s 10 year plan (it CLEARLY worked for the PS2) or maybe he hates living in a $10 million dollar mansion instead of a $50 million home, but one thing’s for sure; it will be interesting to see how Sony reacts to this bold statement by the Activision boss.

Sony should beware–Activision Chief is not simply playing games.

Available right now, but likely to sell out before the sun sets is the aforesaid PS3 discounted $50 down to $349.99.  Maybe not the jaw-dropping deal you might have been hoping for, but a significant savings, on a brand new machine, nonetheless.

Amazon Deal of the Day 80GB PS3 $349

LOS ANGELES — Two of the four main characters in Heavy Rain were playable at E3 this year. The first is Norman Jayden, an FBI profiler who has been asked by local police forces to investigate the case of The Origami Killer. The second is a sexy photographer named Madison Paige.

Here’s a look at both:

The Electronic Entertainment Expo is back. It’s better. It’s … over. Damn.

While it still wasn’t the spectacle of the 90s, the conference was easily three times bigger than it was last year, and there was some actual news this time.

Here’s what we took away from the conference this time around:

BEST GAME
Uncharted 2

The first Uncharted is still one of the best games on the Playstation 3, and that’s not a knock on the console’s library either. This sequel looks to improve on the gameplay of the fantastic original, while also including a brand new multiplayer mode–one we will have impressions of for you in the near future.

BEST WII GAME
Super Mario Bros. Wii
Nintendo
Q4 2009

Mario is back. This new four-player side scroller is the first game to remind us of the good old days since the good old days, except now, with that multiplayer involved, it gives you a reason to want to punch your friends in the face.

BEST XBOX 360 GAME
Mass Effect 2

Bioware is promising a darker, more developed game than the first, which is saying something considering how well-done the original was. We’ll need to see it for ourselves, but what we saw was impressive.

BEST PLAYSTATION 3 GAME
Heavy Rain
Sony/Quantic Dream

This is a sleeper, but IGN also recognized the potential for Heavy Rain by nominating it for Best of E3/Best PlayStation 3 game. Blast got to play a demo, and we were thoroughly impressed by the control, decision-making abilities, dialog, and visuals. This is an excellent-looking game.

BEST MULTIPLATFORM GAME
Rogue Warrior
Bethesda Softworks
PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Fall 2009

Rogue Warrior looked great in a demo, and nothing is cooler than getting to play out the experiences of a real life badass navy seal voiced by Mickey Rourke. This game is full of pure action, explosions, and a great mix of stealth and offensive firepower.

BEST SPORTS GAME
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Wii with MotionPlus
EA Sports
Nintendo Wii
June 8

Wii MotionPlus adds an amazing new dimension of reality to games, but nowhere was it more noticeable than in the latest Tiger Woods game. You have to position your wrists straight and do a full swing with follow-through. The MotionPlus makes you get off your couch and actually do stuff, and where better than at a virtual Bethpage?

BEST MUSIC GAME
The Beatles Rock Band
Harmonix/MTV Games
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Fall

With The Beatles Rock Band, Harmonix officially takes back the music game genre, eclipsing Guitar Hero and coming out from its shadow. Beatles Rock Band will feature the most recognizable songs in history from the most recognizable band in history.

BEST PC GAME OR MMO
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Lucas Arts

This ambitious massively multiplayer game promises all voice acting and no text dialog — thousands and thousands of lines of voice acting. And it’s Star Wars.

BEST PERIPHERAL
Mad Catz Rock Band Wireless Wooden Fender Stratocaster
$299
September 2009

Mad Catz had Fender build them a real guitar, and instead of strings, they wired buttons into it and unleashed it for Xbox 360. It uses no dongle — it’s compatible with Xbox 360 wireless technology. It’s a real guitar, with wood and a shiny finish. If you like to play fake guitar, this is as close to real as it gets.

GUTSIEST PROJECTS

Heavy Rain
Sony/Quantic Dream
PlayStation 3

We’ve been looking forward to this one for a long time. From the same team that put together Indigo Prophecy comes Heavy Rain, a psychological thriller adventure that’s more about story and drawing you in than it is about shooting endless bad guys.

Wet
Bethesda Softworks
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Eliza Dushku is awesome.

M.A.G. Massive Action Game, 256 player online multiplayer
Zipper Interactive/Sony
PlayStation 3
TBA

Second year in a row for M.A.G. on the gutsiest projects list, and it still stands. This game is either going to be huge or a huge disappointment.

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game
Ubisoft
December

This is one of the first video games from a movie that stands on its own merits.

Biggest letdown: Atari. Where were you this year? One word kids: Ghostbusters. Or is that two words? Either way, with the failure of some recent releases, it’s the best chance for Atari to impress this generation. Despite a hell of a showing over the past year, the company hasn’t been able to blow up. Ghostbusters should sell millions, given it’s on every console, so let’s hope that’s a step in the right direction.

Marc Normandin and Bradley Ouellette of the Blast staff contributed to this report.

Cole is a courier sent to deliver a package that ends up exploding in his hands as he brings it to where it needs to go. The blast blows a crater into one of the three islands of Empire City and knocks out the power over the entirety of the metropolis. Cole discovers that because of the blast, and the object that exploded — something we later learn is called a Ray Sphere — he has gained dominion over electricity (and though it isn’t mentioned, electromagnetism as well, based on some of the powers he possesses). These new powers allow him to blast bolts of lightning out of his hands, throw electric grenades, shoot exploding electric rockets, grind rails and wires, and float, among many other electricity-based skills.

The FBI takes notice of Cole’s new-found abilities, and tasks him with recovering the Ray Sphere before it falls into the wrong hands — since he did cause the explosion, he doesn’t have much of a choice, especially since the alternative is for the entire city to be turned into the military’s personal playground. You are also sent to restore power to the city to make your life easier, as well as improve Empire City’s situation — each section restored earns you a new power for use in your battle to recover the Ray Sphere.

That’s the story in a nutshell, as I’m not about to divulge spoilers for you in this review, but you do get a say in how the story progresses, to a degree. That’s because you can play as Evil Cole or Heroic Cole, based on your actions. Important NPC’s will treat you differently, depending on which direction you take — Cole is trying to repair his relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Trish, and she is going to have a hard time respecting you if you’re killing innocent people because it makes you giggle. The citizenry will also act differently towards you, depending on your alignment; if you’re good and have helped them, they come to your aid in battle, punching, kicking and chucking rocks at enemies that are focused on you. But if you’ve been a naughty Cole, they’re just as likely to toss those rocks at your face.

The Karma system has its issues, but overall it works. You can’t be neutral in this game and still be powerful, as there are powers specific to good and evil — the good ones are easily controlled, so that you don’t cause needless destruction, while the bad ones are more likely to level everyone in a city block, regardless of who they are or if they needed to be wiped out. Of more concern to me is the fact that when you get to a certain level of good or evil, you can just make whatever choices you want, because you’ve got enough leeway in your Karma to allow for it. This is helpful in particularly difficult battles when you just want to rattle off a stream of explosive electrical rockets, but makes Cole look like a sellout if you choose an evil path after playing 80% of the story as a champion of the people — especially since your Karma level is still high enough that people will treat you as they did prior to your most recent decision. It’s not that the system is broken, it’s just that the penalties for going against your alignment should be much more severe, in order to make you work for the side you want to fight for. It doesn’t help either that the incentive to be bad just isn’t there — the game is more difficult if you play as a good Cole, and most of the moral choices are pretty cut and dry: should I help these people, or should I act like an old-school, stereotypical cartoon villain and do evil things just because? I mean, why else would I have grown this clearly evil facial hair? That’s not to say that all of the moral choices are like this, but as I said, the game does not usually provide you with choices that actually make you sit and think on the decision any longer than it takes you to read the options.

• Pictures of Ecto 1 Ghostbuster Mobile
• Pictures from Los Angeles
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii announced
• Avatar game may be as big as the movie
• Golden Sun DS announced (trailer)
  
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 announced (trailer)
• Wii Fit Plus announced, coming this fall
• Metroid returns to Wii, now in mature form (trailer)
  
• Mario & Luigi RPG: Bowser’s Inside Story gameplay footage
• PS3 exclusive Agent coming from Rockstar
• Wii Sports Resort info and screens
• Bethesda details Brink
• PSP Go to cost $249
• PSP development kit price reduced by 80%
• Mario & Luigi RPG screens and art
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 screens
• All PSP titles to be available in digital and physical form
• Kojima graces stage, announces new Metal Gear PSP game
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii details and screens
• Gran Turismo PSP unveiled
• Metroid: Other M screens
• 256 player MAG gameplay shown
• Golden Sun DS screens
• Sin & Punishment 2 screens and trailer
• God of War 3 shown and dated
• Sony unveils motion control technology
• Resident Evil on the way to PSP
• Perfect Dark coming to XBLA this winter
• Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos interviewed by Blast
• Steve Wiebe gets Kill Screen in DK World Record attempt

The franchise in question?  How about the epic and horror-laden Resident Evil? Sound good?  Great, because Sony is set to usher in a new wave of zombie-killing fun with an original Resident Evil title set to release sometime next year.

Sony unveiled literally nothing about the game except the fact it exists and is likely not a re-make, spinoff, or side-story, though we really don’t know at the moment.

Due out early next year, this new 1:1 motion tracking technology makes use of two wands with colored balls of light at their ends tracked by a camera located near the PS3 itself.

Two engineers on the project took the stage, revealed that the new tech has been in the works for a “few years now” and will add to the PS3 interactive capabilities, and promised that what they were showing was merely a prototype.

That said, the two showed the first capabilities of the control mechanism, and while the technology is obviously not revolutionary (see Wii), it was alluring nonetheless.

We saw motion-tracking at a very precise level as the demonstrator showed how, by using the two wands, any number of gaming possibilities can be achieved including the use of the dynamic wands as literal extensions of one’s hands to build, draw, and create any number of things in the virtual test space.

More interestingly, when an object was picked up in the virtual space it could be transfigured into any number of objects ranging from a peaceful paint brush to a hell raising automatic weapon.

We don’t know where this technology will lead in the immediate future, only that it will become available sometime next year.

Sony Computer Entertainment of America did just that today as they showed thousands of media types stunning game-play from the final chapter in the fantasy trilogy: God of War 3.

If the masculinity and awesome power of Kratos wasn’t enough, Sony slammed the faithful with a release date of March 2010.

Grab your reddest red pen and circle that month again and again, as you won’t want to forget this one.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t know what to expect when Sony revealed MAG, short for massive action game, last year at this very show, but now, after seeing it in action, I really feel that Zipper and Sony know just what they’re doing.

What we saw was eight Zipper developers on-stage demonstrating MAG for the first time, over the expanses of the Internet, with QA testers and family members scattered throughout the globe.

You work in an eight-man squad in MAG to seek out and destroy enemy encampments. The fire can get heavy and the blood not only chills in your veins but also flows freely from your body if you aren’t careful.

This is a game we’re sure to keep our eyes on and stay close to as E3 2009 progresses. Keep it locked here at Blast for forthcoming details from our men on location.

MAG is due out fall of 2009.

Gran Turismo for PSP is, quoting developer Polyphony Digital, a “full-size GT experience and not simply a shrunken down game.” Good, because shrunken things remind me of what a witch doctor can do to your head!

And with 800 unique cars and 35 race tracks you might think we’re talking about a PS3 version, but no, we aren’t. The title, laughed at and deemed impossible back in 2004 with the launch of the original PSP, is now a manifested reality.

In GT for PSP you’ll be able to race with up to four players via the ad hoc multiplayer system and, most interestingly, you’ll be able to trade, share, and swap cars in your garage with those of friends elesewhere. Cool.

Gran Turismo for PSP will release October 1 alongside the PSP Go as, understandably, one of the systems’ core launch titles.

The recently announced PSP Go will NOT have a UMD drive and new games will be accessible only through the systems’ built in 16GB of storage but for those with PSP 2000’s and 3000’s, you’ll have an option of either digitally downloading your favorite games or picking up the box at retail, granted you’ll need a seriously large memory card to perform the former.

I wholeheartedly welcome the total digital age. Hell, it’s already happened with CD’s.  Video games, in physical form, while still the dominant form of distribution, are showing signs of weakness.