We hope you've kept your Vitas charged, because this week, there's stuff you can do with it. Resistance: Burning Skies is available on PSN, as is the demo for Gravity Rush. Try it and see what we were talking about!
Speaking of excellent games, Rayman Origins is now available digitally on PS3 for $29.99. It's joined by the PS2 party game Rayman Arena, which is ... maybe not quite the classic Origins is. See everything that's out today on the PlayStation Blog.
#rumor
The latest issue of Japanese game magazine Famitsu apparently has a two-page advert that teases Shin Megami Tensei IV. It's apparently headed for the PS Vita. More »
Snapshot isn't a new game, though this may be the first you've heard of it. Nope, Snapshot's been kicking around indie game festivals and such for quite some time (since at least 2009, if not earlier), though we now know that Snapshot's being developed for both PSN on both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.
In Snapshot, you follow a little robot named (appropriately enough), "Pic," as he ventures across a puzzle-filled 2D world. By snapping square photos of the environment, Pic can alter the world around him - "taking photographs of light and using it to interact with physics" and momentum-based puzzles are both given as examples of Snapshot's gameplay twist.
The game's a Sony exclusive (at least for now), with cross-platform save functionality built-in, and it's expected some time this fall. Check out the latest trailer just above - it's quite pretty!
Hey, in case you didn't know, that Smash Bros.-esque PlayStation 3 game, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, is very likely also heading to PlayStation Vita. How likely? Pretty freakin' likely, especially considering the recently discovered group of domain registrations from Sony Computer Entertainment of America tied to URLs like "PlaystationAllStarsVita.com," "PS-AllStarsVita.com," and "PSAllStarsBattleRoyaleVita.com."
As with so many of these discoveries, Superannuation spotted the URLs - URLs that pretty clearly identify a Vita-based version of the brawler. We'll be saying this a lot this week, so get used to it: we've reached out to Sony for more info, but only got "we don't comment on rumor or speculation" in return. We expect more info next week during E3.
#e32012
For the fourth year in a row, we're comparing E3 hype to gaming reality. Sony was our first victim. We'll check Nintendo and Microsoft's E3 2011 promises on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, at 1pm ET each day. More »
#review
The PlayStation Vita has two analog sticks and can run some of the same games that are on the PlayStation 3. That's good news for Sony's wonderful handheld hardware and bad news for Resistance: Burning Skies a mediocre new first-person shooter that has no excuses for underachieving. More »
There's speculation that PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale is Vita bound, because Sony registered a Vita domain for it. This could just be cyber squatting. [Gaming Everything via Inside Games] More »
You're always in a hurry to learn the controls of a new game in the bustle and din of a press event. You might pick a few things up from a tutorial card resting near the screen, from a patient developer stationed nearby, or through one of those loading screens that can barely contain a controller and 29 labels, bursting out of it like informative tentacles. When Vikings Attack, a new party game for PlayStation 3 and Vita, stood out at recent Sony press event because it's filled with clutter, yet wrapped in the simplicity of two-button play.
Presented with vibrant, cel-shaded aplomb, When Vikings Attack is essentially a game of crowd-versus-crowd control. You maneuver a cluster of portly citizens, brought together in the face of an inexplicable, anachronistic viking invasion of 1970s England. The number of people in your crowd is an indicator of your speed, health and strength, and more able bodies can lift larger and heavier objects.
That's right: the secret to thwarting the Norsemen of the apocalypse is to pick up the manufactured detritus of civilization, such as benches, cars, ambulances and phone booths, and hurl it at incoming streams of invaders. It's a bit like bowling, with mismatched, costumed people for pins, and balls coming in every shape, size and seriously you can throw everything at everyone.
Side-scrolling twin-stick shooter Really Big Sky is making its way from PC to relatively smaller (and bigger!) screens. Developer Boss Baddie, collaborating with Voofoo Studios and Ripstone Publishing, on a new version for PlayStation Vita and PS3 called Big Sky Infinity.
Details of the new version are more ... finite, but Boss Baddie promises "new modes and enemies, and touch controls" (the latter for the Vita version, of course). You can get a broad sense of what Big Sky is about by watching the trailer for the PC version above, trying the demo at the website, or checking out Really Big Sky on Steam, where it's currently on sale for $2.50.
#theweekingames
Slow action in North America as the United States takes a break for cookouts on Monday. Mass Effect, Prototype and Arkham City all have notable content drops. Resistance: Burning Skies arrives on PS Vita. More »
Generally, having a magical wizard in your pocket would either be incredibly uncomfortable for one (or both) of you, or prohibitively expensive. Wizard upkeep costs an arm and a leg as it is, and with the money you'd spend on the reagents needed to concoct a shrinking potion, you could buy an entire mage. It's a pain, and usually not worth it.
There's is, however, a more humane, cost effective solution on the horizon. WizOrb, the pixelated, chiptuned indie block-breaking/RPG hybrid from Beatshapers and Tribute Games will smash through geometrically perfect arrangements of blocks and onto your friendly neighborhood PS3, PSP and/or Vita next month, when it launches as a $3.99 PlayStation Mini.
#slycooper
Last week, Sanzaru Games, the maker of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time said the game would also release on the PlayStation Vita at the same time it arrives for the PS3. This video from the PlayStation Blog sheds more light on what that will mean. More »
#jetsetradio
Jet Set Radio is also returning on the PlayStation Vita, Sega said today, bringing touch-screen controls and camera integration to to the beloved Dreamcast hit that's also releasing for the PS3, 360 and the PC. More »
A patent filed by Sony Computer Entertainment America in 2011 describes an advertising system in which a game would be "suspended" during play, an advertisement would come up, and then the game would continue - much like TV commercials interrupt segments of programming. According to the patent, ads would be preceded by a warning and a slowdown of gameplay, with another warning displayed when gameplay is about to resume.
The mere filing of a patent is no indication that this will be implemented, simply that the idea came up. Now, while we primarily work as journalists, we consider ourselves reasonably industry-savvy, and can thus be trusted to provide game industry analysis, pro-bono, in an advisory capacity.
It is to that end we present the following advice to Sony: DON'T DO THIS
#mlbtheshow
Baseball fans have started to come to terms with the idea that MLB 13 The Show will be their only video game option next year. MLB 13 The Show needs to come to terms with that, too. More »
#kickbeat
I know I'm not alone in thinking that the best fighting games have their own rhythm—you get in the zone of a Street Fighter, BlazBlue or even Mortal Kombat and it's a lot like drumming. More »
We'll be seeing more characters added to the PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale roster soon enough, and perhaps even see it heading to one additional platform. The LinkedIn profile of Robert Krekel - a sound designer at Sony Computer Entertainment America - suggests PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale may be coming to PlayStation Vita as well.
Krekel lists PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale as his current project, on both PlayStation 3 and Vita. We've inquired with Sony and will update if we hear more -- but as you might expect, this falls firmly in the "rumors and speculation" category.
Sorcery arrives on PSN today, allowing players to turn their PlayStation Moves into magic wands that only work within their televisions. It's joined by Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock, about a man who wields a sonic screwdriver, which is basically a magic wand powered by pseudoscience, and Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition, about people who can toss magic projectiles sans wand.
Both PSOne Classics (Alone in the Dark New Nightmare) and PS2 classics (Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain) are available on PS3 today, along with a mess of old Sega games.
Meanwhile, on Vita, Table Top Tanks provides AR tank battles.
We know, we know... another Lego game based on a popular franchise? But Lego Batman 2: DC Super Hereoes is looking to be different, featuring an open world and the borderline blasphemy of talking Lego characters. Also, we'd be lying if we said that the exchange between Batman and Superman in this trailer didn't make us smirk.
We may not have any idea when to expect Retro City Rampage on the Vita (and various other platforms), but we're starting to see what it'll look like once it's finally done.
Potential rampagers need not worry about the Vita's smaller screen size, according to developer Brian Provinciano, as the portable version has been outfitted with two different scaling options; one that scales the game to ensure everything is clearly visible, and another that maintains the console version's original 16:9 aspect ration and stylized borders.
Touchscreen functionality has also been "tastefully" implemented, but only so far as to aid in navigating menus and during shopping sprees. "If you're an absolute purist," Provinciano adds, "you can still play the game 100% with the buttons." The Vita version also supports "continuous play" with the PS3 version, meaning that saves transfer between the two platforms and both versions share the same universal scoreboard.
Additionally, the Vita and PS3 ports will come packed with visual filters that make the game look like various systems of yore, such as the all-red "Virtual Burn" and monochrome "Brick Handheld" settings.
As you may have noticed during online play, or perhaps heard about on an internet website, Street Fighter X Tekken's reccent Patch 1.04 introduced a major, game-breaking glitch, wherein any knife-like projectile will cause the game to hard freeze, should it come into contact with any fireball.
"The development team is currently examining the problem and planning to patch the game as quickly as possible," said producer Tomoaki Ayano in a statement to Capcom Unity. "The patch to fix the glitch should be released by mid June." Patch 1.04 was originally released with the intention of correcting infinite combos and other game-breaking glitches that had been discovered.
The PlayStation Vita port of Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath should be released in late June, according to statements made by Just Add Water CEO Stewart Gilray on the PlayStation Blogcast. "That's my intention," Gilray said. "The QA might say 'noooo' but that's my plan anyway."
The Vita version includes tweaks to make the game more natural on a handheld, like the ability to switch between third- and first-person views by double-tapping on the touchscreen, and using a "pinch" gesture to zoom.
Gilray also hopes to get the HD update of Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee out in June. That's planned for PS3 and Xbox, though of course only the PS3 version was mentioned.
#theweekingames
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier arrives this week, giving Dragon's Dogma a tough act to follow. PlayStation Move title Sorcery also finally arrives on shelves. More »
Having made a lifelong profession out of pocketing items of high value, Sly Cooper should feel right at home on the PlayStation Vita. Sony and developer Sanzaru Games, which updated and packaged Sly's PS2 adventures in an HD trilogy collection, have announced that Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time will also launch on Vita, day-and-date with the PlayStation 3 version.
In addition to being portable and cross-save compatible with the PS3 version, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time will offer a few augmentations specific to the Vita hardware. When Sly dons an archer's outfit, for instance, his arrows can be steered into their targets - and connect Sly to those areas via a rope bridge - by tilting the Vita. (Sixaxis? What's that?)
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is due on both PS3 and Vita sometime in Fall 2012. When questioned, a Sanzaru representative told Joystiq that it had not yet been decided whether purchasing one version would grant you complimentary access to the other.
Who has time to accumulate cash then wait for a game to launch before actually paying for it? In this work-a-day world, we need to prepare for such things; we need lead time. And if you're of a similar mind, it may please you to know that Sorcery will be the first game to kick off a new pre-purchase feature on PSN.
Right now, you can log onto PSN and pay for Sorcery, triggering a download granted you have auto-download enabled. Once you have the game pre-loaded, you can play as soon as Sorcery launches next week on May 22.
Sorcery is the only game you can pre-purchase through PSN right now. We've inquired with Sony about future games.
