The Four-eyed Journal » Sony

Sony PlayStation Vita US Launch Titles

jhay — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 06:34:40 +0000

It’s on the Christmas wishlist of most gamers, Sony is revving up for the US launch of its newest handheld gaming console, the PlayStation Vita. It has been recently launched in Japan while it is scheduled to hit the US shelves in February 22, 2012.

Accompanying the handheld’s release a list of new titles that has something for every gamer out there. Check out the list of the Vita’s launch titles below:

First-party titles (Available 2/15/2012):

Escape Plan (PSN Only)
Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational
Hustle Kings (PSN Only)
Little Deviants
ModNation Racers: Road Trip
Super StarDust Delta (PSN only)
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Wipeout 2048

Third-party launch titles (Available 2/22/2012):

Army Corps of Hell (Square Enix, Inc.)
Asphalt Injection (Ubisoft, Inc.)
Ben10 Galactic Racing (D3 Publisher of America)
Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend (Aksys Games Localization, Inc.)
Dungeon Hunter Alliance (Ubisoft, Inc.)
Dynasty Warriors Next (Tecmo Koei America Corporation)
F1 2011 (Codemasters)
EA Sports FIFA Soccer (Electronic Arts, Inc.)
Lumines Electronic Symphony (Ubisoft, Inc.)
Michael Jackson The Experience (Ubisoft, Inc.)
Plants vs. Zombies (PSN Only, Sony Online Entertainment LLC)
Rayman Origins (Ubisoft, Inc.)
Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen (Namco Bandai Games America Inc.)
Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs (PSN Only, Drinkbox Studios)
Touch My Katamari (Namco Bandai Games America Inc.)
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (Capcom Entertainment, Inc.)
Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition (Sega of America)

Third-party launch window* titles:

Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 (Warner Bros. Interactive Ent. Inc.)
Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (NIS America, Inc.)
Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus (Tecmo Koei America Corporation)
Ridge Racer (Namco Bandai Games America Inc.)
Silent Hill Book of Memories (Konami Digital Ent. America, Inc.)
Supremacy MMA: Unrestricted (505 Games)

Accessories:

4GB memory card (February 15, 2012, $19.99)
8GB memory card (February 15, 2012, $29.99)
16GB memory card (February 15, 2012, $59.99
32GB memory card (February 15, 2012, $99.99)
Starter kit with memory card (February 15, 2012, $39.99)
In-ear headset (February 15, 2012, $19.99)
Carrying case (February 15, 2012, $19.99)
Travel pouch (February 15, 2012, $19.99)
Protective film (two-pack) (February 15, 2012, $9.99)
Card case (February 15, 2012, $5.99)
Cradle (February 15, 2012, $19.99)
Portable charger (Spring 2012, $49.99)
AC adapter (February 15, 2012, $14.99)
Car adapter (Spring 2012, $14.99)
USB cable (February 15, 2012, $14.99)

*Means the game will be available within months of the Vita’s release.

Is the game you’re looking forward to included in the launch list? What games do want to see on the Vita?

Image from Sony PlayStation Vita Blog

Anti-drunk driving ads coming to XBOX 360 games

jhay — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 08:05:11 +0000

Now here’s a more responsible and tech-savvy government, Yahoo! News reports that the Scottish government will be targeting gamers with ads against drinking and driving via games on the XBOX 360.

The 10,000 pound ($20,000) trial project will see the ads appear on virtual billboards within several games for Microsoft Xbox consoles, including “Need for Speed: Carbon,” “Project Gotham Racing 4” and “NBA Live.”

Scottish transport minister Stewart Stevenson said the number of road accidents was rising, and innovative approaches were needed to reach young people. The government estimates that 73 percent of Britain’s 15- to 24-year-olds have access to a gaming console at home.

“The technology is non-intrusive, subtle, but the message can be seen in the background, loud and clear,” Stevenson said.

Officials said that if the trial was successful it could be expanded to include other road-safety messages.

I have seen few in-game advertisements before, probably because I was too focused on getting the perfect gear-shift, *heh* nonetheless I’d say that this is tax payers’ money being put to good use. Much like those anti-smoking graphics being printed on cigarette packaging, the drive for safer roads is of equal importance.

An interesting bit to notice though, is that why is the Scottish government targeting XBOX 360 games? What about the other consoles like the Nintendo Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 3? Ah but the “[Scottish] government estimates that 73 percent of Britain’s 15- to 24-year-olds have access to a gaming console at home” and since it targeted the XBOX 360 games, the majority of that 73% are XBOX consoles. LOL

Will this government campaign negatively affect the XBOX sales in the UK? Would this ads also appear in the other consoles? Would this campaign itself be effective? Much remains to be seen.

Now why can’t the Philippine government do something hi-tech and useful for a change? *sighs*

PlayStation + Sony Ericsson = PlayStation Phone

jhay — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 05:00:03 +0000

Too good to be true? Well it’s not yet a real gadget but I just read from Game News that an executive from Sony Computer Entertainment has strongly hinted that SCE will team with Sony Ericsson to create a PlayStation Phone.

Speaking to the Economic Times, Sony Computer Entertainment co-chief operating officer Jim Ryan hinted that a PlayStation Phone could be on the way.

“The PlayStation is a proven success and so is Sony Ericsson. Convergence with the two arms working together is definitely plausible,” he said. “What has been done is finding a match between a camera and a mobile phone, and that has been done wherein the mobile phone features are not reasonably inhibited and the camera is also a reasonably competitive product. It is hugely intellectually seductive to have a console-oriented phone.”

Unlike camera phones, however, where the camera is sort of an add-on onto the phone – something that doesn’t provide great picture quality – the idea for a PlayStation Phone may be more rooted in the console side than in the phone. According to the report, the phone would be “superimposed on the console.” Could this be the new PSP in a few years?

Would this be the real ‘iPhone killer’ or something totally new and awesome in its own right? Or has SCE and Sony Ericsson has finally learned enough from the tragedy of Nokia’s N-gage that they feel and think they could prove that this concept can be a real success story.

They succeeded in combining the Walkman and Cyber-shot brands with phones so it’s much closer to reality than if other companies would take a shot at it.

What would it looke like? Would you get one?

And I wonder what’s next, camera phones + photo printers? (WTF?!)

All in all, it would be something definitely to watch out for.

Update:

CVG has been told that Sony is not working on a PlayStation Phone. (bummer!) And again I quote:

“Jim Ryan was in fact misquoted by the Economic Times of India about this issue,” a Sony UK spokesperson told us moments ago, adding, “We do have talks with other arms of the Sony family about various topics but I can confirm we are not currently working together on the creation of a PlayStation Phone.”

The power of the rumors being spread over the internet.

Gaming news: Game 3.0, mind control, WOW and death

jhay — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 14:40:50 +0000

Here’s a round-up of the latest news about the gaming industry.

Web 2.0 Is Old News! Sony Gives You Game 3.0 according to Playfuls.com

With a not-so-good performance sales of Sony’s PlayStation 3 console, the industry leader has pulled something out of its sleeve; Game 3.0.

What does Game 3.o specifically mean though? Sony unveiled a new real-time 3D avatar-based community and communication service for the PS3 platform. The new service, Home, puts users into a real-time, networked 3D community, where they can interact, join online games, communicate, share content and even build and show off their own personal spaces. Home will be available this fall as a free download from the PS3 Store. Other notable features include:

â€¢ Making your own personalized 3D character or avatar. These realistic human characters are highly customizable with different body types, skin tones, ages, clothing and accessories, creating a unique personality for each user.

â€¢ Exploring the 3D community that is Home â€“ a sleek, modern indoor space featuring spacious common areas, retail shops, game lobbies and extensible, customizable personal apartments.

â€¢ Communicating with others through text, audio and video chat, along with sophisticated emotional animations for each character.

â€¢ Being assigned an apartment in Home where others can be invited to join you as you show off your own style in an area you can personalize yourself with furniture, art and other items. You can even show your video, pictures and music content stored on your PS3 hard drive.

â€¢ â€œHall of Fame,â€ where you can display new 3D trophies that will be unlocked through in-game milestones in PS3 games.

So it’s like The Sims 2 and Second Life rendered in 3D but playable only in the PS3? What’s so ground-breaking about that? What about your friends who don’t have a PS3 or let alone afford one? Is this move really by Sony?

Moving on, the second gaming news is about Blizzard’s World of Warcraft surpassing the 8.5 million user-mark. WOW!

Blizzard Entertainment reported Wednesday that its expansion pack to the hit game World of Warcraft, The Burning Crusade, had sold through about 3.5 million copies in its first month of release, from mid-January to mid-February. That translates into a total of 8.5 million World of Warcraft players worldwide.

Here in the Philippines however, DOTA or the Defense of the Ancients still remains king of WOW line of games and expansions that has gotten almost every gamer young and old hooked and addicted.

Speaking of addiction, another young gamer in China has died due to non-stop gaming.

Obsessive online gaming has claimed another victim after a young man in China collapsed and dies following a marathon gaming session.

The 26-year-old man, from the Liaoning Province in North East China, had been playing ‘almost all’ week during the Chinese Spring Festival, reports the China Daily. Obesity, as well as gaming, was blamed for his death – the man identified only as ‘Zhang’ weighed 150kg (23.5 stone) and it is believed his heart struggled to pump blood throughout his enormous body, states the paper.

Talk about gaming addiction. It’s a good thing no such incident has happened here in the Philippines, yet. Still, something must be done to address this issue as early as now. Perhaps a law regulating the internet cafe business in the country? Or a law regulating gamers instead, especially those still under the legal age?

Before I sound more draconian Nintendo DS users and fans of SimCity rejoice! For Electronic Arts has announced that they would be releasing a version of their popular game for the handheld gaming device from Nintendo this summer.

The pioneering computer game Latest News about computer games “SimCity,” first written for the Commodore 64 in 1985, is being released this summer for the Nintendo Latest News about Nintendo DS platform, game publisher Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) Latest News about Electronic Arts (EA) said Thursday.

One of the most popular games of all time, “SimCity” involves the planning, creation and control of virtual cities and their residents. It was the predecessor of “The Sims” and other legendary reality-simulation games.

The Nintendo DS version will take advantage of the dual-screen portable unit’s unique control and interaction features, according to EA. Multiple players will be able to communicate by using the DS’ “wireless data exchange” feature, said EA.

Imagine that, playing God and controlling a metropolis right in your palms.

Lastly, the future and science-fiction has once more taken a step into becoming practical reality as mind control for video games is now a working technology thanks to a gaming helmet from Emotiv Systems.

Video game players might soon use their thoughts instead of joysticks to control on-screen characters, if they wear a helmet released Wednesday by Emotiv Systems Inc.

The “Project Epoc” headset looks like a bicycle racer’s helmet, but instead of protecting the skull, it detects the brainwaves inside it, using technology similar to electroencephalography found in medical settings.

Emotiv, a privately-held startup firm in San Francisco, has applied the technology to video games with the company’s first product, the Emotiv Development Kit (EDK). The kit allows game developers to attach dozens of thoughts and emotions to the actions in their virtual worlds, Emotiv said

What if we combine this mind control technology with the Wii? More gaming-related injuries and damaged properties would occur? I hope not. I think this mind control gaming technology would be the next big thing, just imagine if you could use it to play MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, Second Life, Ragnarok etc without lifting a controller and just sitting in your chair or lying on your bed. The possibilities are just endless.