PlayStation News, Articles and Information for the UK and Europe

The next installment in the long-running Call of Duty saga has been officially unveiled by Activision along with an official website. The new title will be called Call of Duty: Black Ops and is set for release on 9th November 2010. It will be the seventh main title in the Call of Duty franchise.

According to CVG, the new game will be set during the Cold War and segments from the Vietnam conflict as well as the storming of the Iranian Embassy in London will be featured. The title will be developed by Treyarch who were responsible for Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War.

The first trailer is supposed to go live this afternoon – we’ll post an update when we know more.

This week’s PSN Store update is the last one to occur on a Thursday – from next week onwards all UK/EU updates will happen on Wednesday, while those lucky folk in North America will get theirs on Tuesdays.

Anyway, onto this week’s haul. The only demo this week is for the cool looking Wakeboarding HD, from the same people who brought us the excellent Magic Ball Orbz – if you’re not sure whether you want to shell our for Wakeboarding HD you can now try the demo first to see if you like it. There’s also a Wakeboarding HD Dynamic Theme.

Speaking of Dynamic Themes, there is also a White Knight Chronicles ‘Travellers’ Dynamic Theme which is worth snapping up if you’re fan of the (often underrated) RPG game. There’s also the usual Rock Band/Guitar Hero DLC as well as the latest issue of FirstPlay. The one Mini released this week is Championship Manager 2010 Express Edition, a port of the successul mobile game first released in October last year.

Overall not a bad batch this week, though a few PSOne Classics would be welcome (FF IX anyone?) and we in Europe are sorely missing The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition which was released on the North American Store last week. Sony say it’s up to the developers and the developers are keeping quiet so there’s no scheduled date as yet.

Check out the full list below:

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After last week’s slight lull in terms of downloadable content, this episode is shaping up to be great. Contained in this week’s pack is a nifty preview of Gran Turismo 5 as well as the upcoming PlayStation Move. On the screenshots side of things, we’ve got some lovely pictures of Medal of Honor and SOCOM IV with another four (yes four!) games to look at in glorious HD. Included in the Network Highlights section is a round up of PSN as well as some nice LBP Top Levels. And for those who’ve yet (?) to download the Just Cause 2 Parachute, you have another chance to grab it.

Below is the full list of content in this episode – fully updated! – so have a ganders and don’t forget to check back on the site this weekend if you’re unsure of whether to buy this episode or not. Oh and do remember that next week’s episode will be released on Wednesday 5th May to coincide with the new PSN Store update schedule.

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The details of the collector’s edition of Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands, the latest game in the long-running Prince of Persia saga, have been unveiled according to PS3Trophies.org.

Among the bonus items included are additional in-game character skins and a special ‘survival mode’ which sounds a lot like Resident Evil 5′s Mercenaries Mode that came with the recently released Gold Edition of the game. Also included with Forgotten Sands will be a soundtrack disc, special casing and a free download for Prince of Persia Classic from the PSN Store.

Price of Persia: Forgotten Sands is currently scheduled for release on May 21st in the UK.

If you’ve looked at VidZone recently you may have noticed a rather substantial new feature – VidZone TV. If you don’t already use VidZone, now would be an excellent time to load it up and find out what all the fuss is about. Vidzone TV adds to the already huge library of entertainment on Vidzone by letting you watch dedicated video ‘channels’, like the Rock Channel to Chart TV.

 Though it can be a lot of fun tracking down your favourite songs and putting together in your own personal playlist, one of the very few criticisms levelled at Vidzone is that it can take time to do this. Vidzone TV now lets you watch endless streams of your favourite videos and artists on demand, whenever you want. Rest assured however, you can still make your own playlists and play around to you heart’s content if that’s what you prefer.

If you’ve not done so already, check out Vidzone and see what you think!

This week’s PSN Video Store update has quite a slew of movies, most notably Avatar which, unfortunately, can only be purchased in standard definition and cannot be rented at all. The special effects in Avatar are simply breathtaking and not having a high definition version on the store will be disappointing for many. However, if you own an HD TV and a PS3, the only way you should be watching Avatar (other than in 3D at the cinema) is in 1080p Blu-ray; the transfer is truly exceptional and really shows off the benefits of high definition viewing.

Slumdog Millionaire is also worth a mention and probably worthing renting if you’ve not already seen in – it won eight Oscars after all (then again, Titanic won 11 Oscars back in 1998 and no-one likes that film anymore!).

It’s good to see Sony still supporting the Video Store, even if many of the films are niche and b-movies. If Sony can start getting more HD content on there as well as adding 5.1 audio signals to more movies, we hopefully see the store’s growth continuing over time. Check out the full list of new films below: Read more

The clever folk over at PlayStation University have a very interesting story about the new hardware model for the PS3 Slim that will include a smaller, lighter and more efficient RSX GPU, which will be shrunk from 65nm to 40nm. Although this won’t make of an obvious change for most gamers, many hardcore players may notice their electricity bills come down, especially if  they are moving from an old 60GB Ps3 to this new PS3 Slim.

This new chip should also be cheaper to manufacture in the future; perhaps Sony a pre-empting a slight price reduction later in the year when PlayStation Move is released? It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea, especially if Microsoft release a ‘slim’ Xbox 360 with Natal alongside a price reduction, which many predict they will.

A little bit more of a shake-up this week as 2010 Fifa World Cup takes the top spot. The Fifa games seem to do very well considering the relatively small amount of publicity they get compared to many of the big hitters like God of War and Final Fantasy XIII.

Red Dead Redemption sneaks back up to number 3 despite only having a moderate amount of publicity so far. It’s only four weeks away now so once the inevitable tide of videos, new screenshots and previews begins it could become a huge seller, particularly if the early pre-release reviews are as favourable as we think they will be.

With less than a week until release, Super Street Fighter IV finally makes its debut in the Top 10. Rather than a simple expansion, Super Street Fighter IV is a fully standalone game, incorporating everything from Street Fighter IV along with several new characters, new moves and a whole host of extra content. Fans of the series will surely be snapping this one up, especially considering the low price point (it’s £22.70 on Amazon currently).

You can see the full Top 10 list below: Read more

So, you’ve been at work/school/college all week and now you’ve finally scrabbled enough money together to get something  on the store, but what do you get? Well, a nudge in the right direction might be FirstPlay, but is this episode for you, and is it worth subscribing? Worry not! This article is for you, where I take a deep look into the contents of this FirstPlay and comment on the episode as a whole…

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The ‘Special Edition’ high definition remake of The Secret of Monkey Island has landed on PSN in North America but as yet there’s been no word on a European version, confounding European fans with a real life quest to locate the enigmatic Monkey Island. The Official Facebook page simply has the following to say:

“Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is now available on PlayStation Network for $9.99! Enjoy Monkey Island on your PS3 right now!”

PSN games are often released in the EU a few weeks later than in North America due to the extra work involved with translation, as well as the more complex licencing issues arising from the number of countries involved. However, the fact that no official date has been revealed yet may indicate a more substantial delay. We’ve asked the team behind the game for an update and we’ll report back any information as soon we have it.