Author Archive
The following list is a reminder of what all PlayStation Plus subscribers will receive this month in their subscription, this round of content will be available when the Store updates later today (Wednesday 1st September) until Tuesday 5th October. As per usual, additional content will be released throughout the month which will not appear on this list.
Hello again all, and another week has passed us by, bringing with it another episode of FirstPlay. This week’s episode has gone preview crazy with sneak peeks of LittleBigPlanet 2, PlayStation Move and Ubisoft’s new war-RTS, R.U.S.E. Also available is an interview on the future of the PlayStation franchise with SCEE’s boss, Andrew House and a review of the online component of Singularity.
In addition to this, the Network Highlights section contains another look at your best FIFA Goals as well as a round-up of the best fighters available on the Store and a summary of the latest PSOne Classics. In the Screenshots section are the latest updates on FIFA 11, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, 007 Blood Stone and Alice: The Madness Returns.
Finally we have the Featured Downloads section, which this week features a new XMB Theme in the style of Homefront together with the chance to win a £1000 Surround Sound System! That’s all for this week. FirstPlay Episode 22 hits the PlayStation Store tomorrow (1st September). Click Read More to see a summary of the content available in this episode.
If you haven’t already heard, the PlayStation Network will undergo routine maintenance tomorrow (Monday 30th August) between the hours of 0800 BST and 2100 BST. During the maintenance, you will be unable to access the following features of the PlayStation Network:
You will still be able to sign in and play online games during the maintenance, just be sure to purchase or download any items you may need tomorrow in advance.
After May’s unrelenting pace of dishing out great new games for your PlayStation 3, it’s been good to get a break to catch up on some of the gems you might have missed. Now, looking to the future, with the PlayStation Move hitting your PS3 any day now; and another packed schedule heading this way, you’d be forgiven for forgetting one or two of the most anticipated titles of the season. But fear not, as PlayStation Future is here to put the best upcoming releases all in one place. Want more info on the latest PSN and PSP releases? Stay tuned for a follow-up article soon…
This week’s episode is a quiet one as much of the FirstPlay team have been out and about at gamescom, but there are still a few things worth checking out in this episode; such as a review of the newly released Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days and a look at the launch games for PlayStation Move.
In the Network Highlights section there is a personal look at the horrors of Dead Space and a round up of the latest FPS DLC including Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. There’s yet another theme up for grabs for all you Monkey Island lovers, and there are some screenshots of Operation Flashpoint: Red River; Smackdown vs Raw 2011; Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine.
Again, no jaw-dropping features this week although there should be at least one thing that everyone will enjoy or at least be interested in, we can only hope that next week’s instalment will perk up a bit.
Remember DeathSpank? That lovable RPG which left so many of us laughing? Well if you do, then that’s so last month, because Hothead Games have already announced a sequel to the game – DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue!
Hothead say that DeathSpank: ToV will capture the same action and humour of the original game whilst promising to be bigger, longer and harder! If that’s not enough, you’ll have three player co-op at your disposal this time, with the return of Sparkles the wizard and a new addition: kung-fu fighting ninja Steve. But the best bit is that it will be hitting the PlayStation Store next month – 22nd September in fact*, and all for the price of £9.99*!
If you’ve yet to play the original DeathSpank, then now is your chance to. If you’re unsure about whether it will be for you, then read our review here.
*Prices and release dates shown are calculated from US information and may therefore differ from the actual price and release date for Europe.
A few new screenshots of EA’s brand new IP, Bulletstorm, have found their way on to the internet after the GamesCom Expo in Cologne last week. Bulletstorm (developed by People Can Fly and Epic Games) is a new first-person shooter set in the distant future where you’ll be able to use a variety of big weapons to take out your enemies, with extraordinary efforts (known as Skillshots) being awarded masses of points.
Bulletstorm is currently due out in February 2011. The new screenshots (along with the older ones) are shown below with the more recent ones at the bottom of the grid:
As the launch of the PlayStation Move draws close, Sony have released three new trailers for some of its high profile releases. Below are the three trailers for: Sports Champions, The Shoot, and Start The Party respectively. PlayStation Move is due out on 15h September 2010 in the EU, with North America following shortly afterwards. All three titles mentioned in this article will be available at launch.
Click “Read More” to see the trailers in question…
PLATFORM: PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade
RELEASE DATE: 13th July 2010 (PSN), 14th July 2010 (XBLA)
RATING: 12 – Violence + Bad Language (PEGI)
DEVELOPER: Hothead Games
PUBLISHER: Electronic Arts
DeathSpank is a new RPG comedy type game available only by digital download on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace for only £9.99. Built by Hothead Studios, who cancelled the third instalment in a popular series known as the Penny Arcade Adventures (which was probably due to development of this game), DeathSpank aims to provide a relatively easy to get into adventure about a stereotypical hero on his perilous quest to get back an artifact – known only as The Artifact. The question is, does it achieve it? And is it worth the £10 price tag?
And so I’ve returned this week to give you the details on the latest episode of FirstPlay, with thanks to nineinchnailed for covering me over the last fortnight. This week sees a review of the long-awaited third-person shooter Mafia II and a review of the somewhat funny RPG on PSN – Deathspank (look out for our review soon). If you’re still up for more stunning footage of Killzone 3 then you’ll be happy to know that FirstPlay have another preview of the game to feast your eyes on as well as a preview of Driver: San Francisco.
In the Screenshots section is a look at Bethesda’s new game RAGE as well as Castlevania: Lord of Shadows and Dirt 3. In the Network Highlights section is a round-up of the latest and best PSP Minis, and some more Skate Tricks and Bails if you haven’t already seen enough!
Finally in the Featured Downloads section is another XMB Theme, this time of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. As always, we are reminded that some fresh new content will be hitting this section soon, but it seems to be an unending wait. Hopefully FirstPlay will be able to pull a few surprises in the next few weeks.
All of this and more is listed below: