PlayStation.Blog God of War III GDC 2010 Meetup Recap

Can you say, “Biggest meetup ever?” Because if you made it out to San Francisco on Wednesday, you experienced it first-hand. Not that we didn’t expect an early God of War III hands-on event to draw a mega-crowd. But still, hats off to you guys for making it out in spades. A HUGE thank you to everyone who came out for an entire day’s worth of festivities, culminating in a chance to play God of War III before it hits stores tonight/tomorrow ! Thanks also to those who followed along at home — hopefully it will make picking up the game even more exciting! And you East-coasters that have been asking and asking for us to come to you…well, it’s official. The PlayStation.Blog is coming to New York City and Boston ( PAX East ) next week! Specific details coming soon. As for San Francisco, it was a day-long celebration of God of War III. Several of you lined up as early as 5am to secure a spot in our massive tent. (Check out ALL the pictures of our God of War III GDC 2010 Meetup on Flickr !) At around noon, we unleashed the burrito truck upon the line! Now that spells CHAOS! Shortly after, we opened the tent “doors” to the masses. Everyone was greeted inside by PlayStation 3 s loaded up with God of War Collection , and a special challenged awaited. The test? Complete the God of War II Challenge of the Titans “Blind Fury” the fastest…in one try. You die, you’re out. And the winner would lock down a God of War III Ultimate Edition ! We thought we’d see plenty of quick deaths, but in fact, many of you utterly blitzed this challenge. But only one came through with a time that could arguably last through the ages. 16 seconds! 16 freakin’ seconds! Here’s your winner: Throughout the day, we raffled off TONS of games, posters and other unique PlayStation goodies. Anyone who brought a PSP took home God of War: Chains of Olympus , but we also gave away MLB 10: The Show PSP , Heavy Rain , Fireteam Bravo 3 , Killzone 2 and much more. The highlight of the meetup was definitely the presence of Stig and the Sony Santa Monica Studio team who stopped by to sign autographs for everyone who came! All attendees also scored a limited-edition God of War III art book! And finally, there was the chance to take your picture and create a personalized God of War III cover! There are some truly great shots in Flickr , so flip through ‘em!

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PlayStation.Blog God of War III GDC 2010 Meetup Recap

The Tester Episode 4 Available Today

Hey The Tester fans. It’s Thursday, which means the wait is over for the next episode of The Tester. Game developers know that the ability to thrive in almost any situation and use creativity to problem-solve are key qualities necessary to work in quality assurance. Testers must be able to adapt and create scenarios to fully analyze a game. So, what better way to take people out of their comfort zone and assess their creativity than with a surprise live-action role play? That’s right, things definitely get dramatic this week as the remaining 7 gamers use random props, their wits and sheer guts to entertain and impress the panel. And to help evaluate the performances, PlayStation Home ’s Katherine de Leon joins Brent Gocke and Hal Sparks on this week’s panel. Katherine oversees the creation of environments and virtual merchandise for the platform. An RPG veteran and former US Marine, she brings strong opinions and her d20 to this challenge. Don’t miss Episode 4. Thanks again for downloading and watching. Enjoy the show !

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The Tester Episode 4 Available Today

God of War III Path To Olympus Experience Launches on GodofWar.com

Hey God of War fans. We are excited to unveil Path to Olympus today, a new exclusive feature on GodofWar.com . So what is it? In short, it’s a primer to get you prepared for March 16 when Kratos will storm retailers. Kratos has come a long way since his days as Captain of the Spartan Army , and the Path to Olympus episodes will take you through some of his most prolific and darkest moments, while providing the back story leading up the beginning of God of War III . Who is it for? This feature is for you if: You are a new player and want to learn what all this Kratos mania is about. You’re a gamer who has played the God of War games but are scratching your head trying to remember who Kratos killed, who has killed Kratos and everything in between. And lastly, if you’re a hardcore fan that wants to experience, once again, some of Kratos’ most exciting and brutal moments before plunging into God of War III. What to expect We will be releasing new content leading up to launch that will quickly get you up to speed on the story, preparing you to take control of Kratos as he catapults towards his destiny in God of War III. Take a look at some of the video content from the first chapter: Click to begin! One last thing to share. Many of the God of War developers are now on the GodofWar.com forums answering questions. Head on over to the community section of God of War and hear what they have been saying.

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God of War III Path To Olympus Experience Launches on GodofWar.com

ModNation Racers PS3: Dynamic Props – More than Just Speed Bumps

Hello, Mark here back for another developer post . Since we last talked, our North American and European Public PS3 Betas have exposed ModNation Racers to the world. These previews generated lots of great feedback and have helped us focus on key issues in these final months. I’m happy to say that frame rate, load times and race cameras have all improved. In my last update , I talked about some of the more advanced features of Track Studio that we’ve used to create the tracks for the game. Today I’d like to talk about some of the cool props you can add to your tracks to make them fun, challenging and memorable! Dynamic Props are interactive objects that you can place on your track to enhance the gameplay. We’re including a load of exciting things to place on your tracks, such as barrel launchers that shoot crushing or exploding barrels. There are also ModBots, robots that move back and forth across your track and attack karts that get close. Some shoot flame, some will bounce racers off the track if they aren’t careful. They can be scattered anywhere, so it’s a nice touch if you want your racers to watch the road. We’ve also included ramps for cool jumps, and launchers for shooting the kart over huge distances. We have barriers that pop out of the ground to test a driver’s agility, and flame vents to make any careless driver extra crispy! We designed them to be customizable, reusable and effective in a variety of different scenarios. The devilish setups we’ve put in our tracks are just the beginning of what can be done! Highlighting a Dynamic Prop in Track Studio and pressing the Square button will pop up a dialog where you can adjust settings on how the prop behaves. For instance, you can dial in the height of a ramp, or change the direction of the Twister (a giant rotating platform). Adjusting these things gives you the power to customize your track to make it as crazy as you want. Dial your ramp just right or you might hit some humps! These dangers work well with gameplay incentives such as item pods or boost pads – give the racers a reason to brave the danger! For instance, use a Devastator (a giant stomper) and boost pads in combination with a popup ramp to let them jump clean over it, versus the faster, more treacherous route under the Devastator. A whole gauntlet of Devastators to slalom through!?! With so many Dynamic Props, and so many possible combinations, I can’t wait to see what the community comes up with. Until then, check out our new trailer (above) that gives you a taste of all the insanity you can create with the toys we’ve built for you.

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ModNation Racers PS3: Dynamic Props – More than Just Speed Bumps

PlayStation Network Service Restored

We are aware that the internal clock functionality in the PS3 units other than the slim model, recognized the year 2010 as a leap year. Having the internal clock date change from February 29 to March 1 (both GMT), we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved and that users are able to use their PS3 normally. If the time displayed on the XMB is still incorrect, users are able to adjust time settings manually or via the internet. If we have new information, we will update you through the PlayStation.Blog or PlayStation.com . We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

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PlayStation Network Service Restored

The Drake’s Fortune Multiplayer Pack Releases Today for UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves

As we revealed over at IGN two weeks ago, the new “Drake’s Fortune Multiplayer Pack” for UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves is available today on the PlayStation Store . The “Drake’s Fortune Multiplayer Pack” includes two maps and six character skins inspired by Nathan Drake’s debut adventure, UNCHARTED: Drake’s Fortune . The six skins are available $2.99 and the two maps are available for $3.99 – or you can get all of skins and maps in a convenient, value-priced bundle for $5.99. Check out some of the new character renders of the skins included in the Pack: You can view and download the full set of character renders from the Naughty Dog Flickr page . So, you may be thinking to yourself, “What are these skins and maps exactly?” We’re glad you asked. Read on for detailed descriptions of our “Drake’s Fortune Multiplayer Pack” content. TWO new maps, available in all competitive multiplayer game types and in the co-op arena game types, inspired by locations found in UNCHARTED: Drake’s Fortune. The Flooded Ruins Based on UNCHARTED: Drake’s Fortune Chapter 10 – The Customs House, players will find themselves fighting in the midst of a thunderstorm, complete with rain, thunder and lightning. The Flooded Ruins is an asymmetrical map centered on the Customs House building, which is surrounded on one side by multiple two-story buildings and many flanking routes – you’ll need to stay on your toes and watch your back. The Customs House itself provides the advantage of higher ground if you manage to take the center sniper perch, where you can dispatch your opponents or call out their positions to your teammates. Watch out for incoming grenades! The Facility Based on the submarine bay in UNCHARTED: Drake’s Fortune Chapter 18 – The Bunker, The Facility is centered on a rusted out U-boat that has been left to rot in its dry dock. This fairly symmetrical map works well with all game types. Players can hide in dark corners, snipe from the control tower, or go guns blazing into combat. Look out for the moving cargo on the upper levels – it can block your shots or cut off an escape route at a very inopportune moment! SIX new multiplayer skins based on characters from UNCHARTED: Drake’s Fortune. UNCHARTED: Drake’s Fortune Nathan Drake UNCHARTED: Drake’s Fortune Elena Fisher Gabriel Roman Atoq Navarro Eddy Raja Javier, the mercenary The Multiplayer Pack also unlocks 12 NEW Trophies – 11 Bronze and 1 Silver – to earn as you play: Bronze Brass Knuckles – Get 100 Melee Kills in Deathmatch or Elimination Games Gold Digger – Finish Wave 10 in 1 Gold Rush Game I Told You I Was Hardcore! – Complete All 3 Co-op Objective Maps on Hard Difficulty Made It – Finish Wave 10 in 1 Survival Game Plays Well With Others – Win 50 Objective Games Plundered! – Get 200 Captured Medals Rapid Fire – Get 7 Tripled Medals in Deathmatch or Elimination games Sneaky… – Get 50 Stealth Kills in Deathmatch of Elimination games Still Alive – Win 50 Elimination Games Tastes Like Chicken – Get 20 BBQ Medals in Deathmatch or Elimination games Wipe Them Out… – Win 50 Deathmatch Games Silver Cold Blooded – Get 2,500 Kills in Deathmatch or Elimination games Downloading the either the maps or the bundle unlocks the Trophies within the in-game multiplayer menu. You can gain progress towards completing these new Trophies in any game type that fits the Trophy criteria. Purchasing the skins only will NOT unlock the additional Trophies. We’ve also made sure that all our players can play from the same matchmaking pool regardless of whether they have purchased the maps or not – head over to NaughtyDog.com to read about how we’re doing this and how to change your profile settings.

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The Drake’s Fortune Multiplayer Pack Releases Today for UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves

Coming to PSN this Week: Darksiders Demo

It’s been over a month since Darksiders released with near-universal critical praise, and the team at Vigil Studios is still hard at work. On Thursday, Vigil releases a demo for Darksiders . This isn’t your typical demo, however. It packs an unprecedented 90 minutes of gameplay, encompassing the entire first dungeon of the game: the Twilight Cathedral. I had a chance to talk to Vigil’s Creative Director and comic book legend, Joe Madureira (Joe Mad) — along with composers Mike Reagan and Cris Valesco — to get some more info on the demo: Now that Darksiders has been out for a few weeks, what do you think about the fans’ reactions to the game? Joe: We are incredibly excited to finally get Darksiders into people’s hands! The response has been fantastic. We already have armies of ravenous fans clamoring for a sequel, and that’s a dream come true for us. For Vigil, the development of Darksiders was almost as epic a journey as War’s is in the game—so of course, we’re excited to finally see it through to its end. We look forward to hearing from even more gamers over the next few months as they check out the demo, and news of the game spreads. Let’s talk about the demo. What can fans expect from the demo, and where does this take place within the main story? Joe: In this demo, War has been tasked with retrieving the heart of one of the Destroyer’s chosen. Tiamat, a massive demon queen is not about to give it up without a fight, so you’ll have to pry it from her cold, dead body. Luckily, this is just the sort of thing that the Horsemen of the Apocalypse are good at—and War is probably the toughest of the bunch. Of course at this point, War’s powers have been stripped from him, so he’ll have to use every weapon at his disposal, and locate the ancient artifact called the Cross Blade. Its mastery is vital to navigating the Cathedral, and ultimately bringing down Tiamat. The Cathedral itself is chock full of puzzles and other hazards, and of course, it is home to a host of the Destroyers minions. Be especially wary as you approach the walking pile of cadaverous flesh that is—the Jailer! When you meet him, you’ll see why… Darksiders is obviously a game with an epic scope. Why choose to focus the demo on the Twilight Cathedral? Joe: It’s true, there is so much to do, and so much to see in Darksiders, that it was difficult to pick one area to feature. We liked the Cathedral because it’s a self contained chunk of the game that’s fairly early on, so it’s easier to pick up and play. It’s also the first ‘dungeon’ experience in the game, so it’s a good one for players to learn the game’s structure. The dungeon exploration, using keys, solving puzzles, mastering the dungeon’s gear item ( Crossblade ) and of course, introducing tougher enemies and boss battles. It really gives you a taste of the adventure aspect of Darksiders, and hopefully will show gamers just how far from being a typical hack-n-slash Darksiders actually is. After playing the demo, what do you want fans to know about the rest of the game? Joe: By the time you beat the demo, you’re going to realize one thing—this is an adventure game! That’s right, you can go back to any area even after you beat it. You’ll want to do this because War is not equipped to find everything his first time through most areas. As War gains new abilities and items, he will be able to unlock areas of the levels previously unattainable. This creates an interesting pace, where combat is carefully balanced with exploration and puzzle solving. It’s not just a button mashing combat drill! That said, I do think it’s important to note that we at Vigil just LOVE to create kick ass enemies. There are some truly cool looking creatures in this game that make for fun and memorable battles! The bosses in particular are a lot of fun and end in a rewarding mess of gore! So what are you waiting for? Check out the demo, and pick up a copy today. YOU MUST OWN THIS GAME PEOPLE!!!! If you’ve been on Home lately, you may have seen the occasional Angel, Demon, Horseman, or Man-Horse walking around. We wanted to give the denizens of Home a chance show their allegiance to Heaven, Hell, or the Horsemen. We tried to pick some of the more iconic images from the game – including angel wings and demon horns. It’s a real credit to Joe and the rest of the team at Vigil that the characters and costumes look just as cool in the “real-world” Home environment as in the “comic-inspired” game environment. What’s most impressive is that we were able to take some of the in-game models and port them directly into the Home environment. We recently released War’s armor with the Mask of Shadows. My favorite item, however, is the Ruin horse head mask. It’s at the same time awesome and disturbing. I can’t deny the fact that I was partially inspired by a certain burlap-skinned character from one of my favorite side-scrolling platformers. If you’re a Darksiders fan, or just want to show your good, evil, or creepy side – go check out the Darksiders virtual items! Lastly, I spoke with composers Mike Reagan and Cris Valesco about the incredible music in Darksiders. You may not know their names, but you definitely know their work – God of War and God of War II being two of their most well-known titles. What other games have you worked together on? Mike: This was really the first project that Cris and I truly collaborated and wrote a theme together. Previously, we had both been hired individually to work on the God of War series . Cris: Mike and I have previously worked on the God of War series together as well as Van Helsing. However, this was the first time that we were actually able to collaborate on actual music. In the past we’ve always just worked on our own music independently. This time we were really able to brainstorm on the Darksiders Main Theme and I think it really shows. What was your inspiration for the “sound” of Darksiders? Mike: Spiritual warfare was a key motivator, and we wanted to create a sound that could be heard in complete darkness and convey a haunting experience. The Choir as well as the solo boy soprano sung by Zack Weisberg really added something special to the sound. Cris: Darksiders clearly has some religious connotations attached to it and we wanted to take advantage of that with the choir. They’re singing in Sanskrit throughout. This language dates back as far as 1500 BC so we thought this would help give the music a sense of weight and age. What is your favorite track? Mike: I’m really proud of the Main Theme that Cris and I did together, and the pieces with longer melodies that work really well over the Boss themes as well. Cris: The Main Theme that Mike and I wrote is probably the stand-out track in the game. It’s definitely my favorite piece. I also really liked the boss music that Mike wrote for the Greaver. Of my own music in the game, I am partial to the final boss music. This track and the Main Theme were actually performed live at the Night In Fantasia ’09 concert in Sydney this last summer too! Thanks for reading. I hope everyone enjoys the demo!

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Coming to PSN this Week: Darksiders Demo

make.believe: From Programmer to Naughty Dog Co-President

You’ve probably seen Sony ’s global “ make.believe ” (pronounced “make-dot-believe”) initiative by now, which comes with a simple message: believe that anything you can imagine, you can make real. I know a lot of you have heard the name Christophe Balestra , and like many of you out there, his make.believe moment is taking place every day. Christophe, along with co-president Evan Wells and the entire team at Naughty Dog , have been creating amazing games for the PlayStation family since the mid-nineties, when Crash Bandicoot made his debut on the original PlayStation. Since then, the Dogs have brought us the incredible Jak and Daxter franchise of adventure games, and of course, the critically acclaimed UNCHARTED series , including the latest award winning title, UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves . Naughty Dog has played a huge role in shaping the action adventure genre as we know it today, and their games have greatly influenced my own personal gaming experience. It’s no surprise that Naughty Dog ’s unique combination of storytelling cinematics, frantic action sequences, challenging traversal and tricky puzzle solving has been recognized across the industry and worldwide. Last evening in Las Vegas, UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves took the Interactive Achievement Awards by storm, grabbing ten awards, the most for any one title. It also won “Overall Game of the Year” for 2009, which is the second time PlayStation has been awarded this coveted honor by the academy. UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves has also garnered more than 150 other industry awards, has over 1.5 million online users worldwide, and has surpassed 3.5 million copies sold worldwide – the fastest selling first-party title for PlayStation. Not to mention, it’s established a new standard for games developed on the PS3 platform . We’re incredibly excited to see all of the continued innovations and platform-defining games that will come from the creative minds at Naughty Dog. Giving consumers a reason to be excited about video games is our “make.believe” promise and we’re thrilled to have Naughty Dog to help us make this a reality. With that, I’d like to share with you Christophe’s “ make.believe ” story from his point of view:

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make.believe: From Programmer to Naughty Dog Co-President

New MLB 10 The Show Trailer Revealed!

Baseball fans, if you missed the world premiere of the new MLB 10 The Show trailer on GameTrailers TV last Thursday night, we have it right here you! GameTrailers also went behind the scenes at our recent MLB 10 commercial shoot in Los Angeles where they caught up SCEA’s VP of all things Sony, Kevin Butler , and our cover athlete, AL MVP Joe Mauer . For a look at the segment head over to GameTrailers.com . We’ll have a lot more to show…from The Show as we move closer to our launch on March 2nd, so stay tuned. Enjoy!

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New MLB 10 The Show Trailer Revealed!

MAG Developer Tips: The Skill Tree

The weekend is almost here and we’re closing our first week of Zip-Tips out with help from our resident “designer in rock,” Jason Olander – better known to frequent MAG.com forum visitors as BenjaminBreegg . Today, Jason drops the knowledge on MAG ’s skill tree system to teach you how to make a better character. As always, we’ll begin with a prep video followed by Jason’s words of wisdom: “Hey there, this is Jason and it’s a fact that the skill tree is the heart of your character, and the place where a soldier’s identity is forged. Specialization is the name of the game here, as becoming comfortable with a particular weapon set and support role, and then spending skill points wisely to improve upon those skills will help you become an effective combatant and squad mate. Following these few tips will help you become a force to be reckoned with out on the battlefield. Choose your weapon. Rather than spend precious skill points across several weapon types, pick one and spend points to continually upgrade that category’s weapon selections, attachments, and skills. Choose your role. Electronics warfare? Combat medic? Field engineer? Explosives expert? MAG is all about teamwork, and a balanced squad is a good squad. Decide on your “support” role immediately, and just like when specializing with a weapon, continually spend skill points to improve that skill set rather than scattering points across disciplines. Save your skill points. Just because you leveled up and have a shiny new skill point to spend, that doesn’t mean you have to spend it “right now.” Decide first what your next ‘must have” skill is and save up for it. That new foregrip attachment for an assault rifle or the electronic sensor jammer may be worth the wait. Respec early and often. Your current Respec points are shown in the “Skills” tree. When you have enough points, opting for a respec will reset all purchased skills and give you all of your earned points back to spend again; it’s basically a do-over. This is a great opportunity to hone your specialty and personal play-style to a razor’s edge. Be prepared for an ever-changing battlefield by “packaging” new skills and equipment together as loadouts in the Armory. Use attacker and defender skill sets as a starting point, and build from there with your specialties. Packaging up gear skills into an easily selectable loadout can make all the difference when a stealthy assault on an AA Battery is called for, or when a last stand against heavy APC’s can mean the difference between victory or defeat. In closing, the key is to maximizing the skill tree is to choose your weapon, choose your role, then work up the ranks to become effective at both, while using the respec function liberally to find that perfect combination for your play style.” Thanks Jason, great tips. We’ll be back with additional help from other Zippers next Tuesday, as we’ll be off Monday for the President’s Day holiday. Have a great three day weekend and we’ll see you again soon.

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MAG Developer Tips: The Skill Tree

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