Sony has a new brand of addiction on the way to the Playstation 3 in the form of Trophies, their answer to the XBox 360’s Achievement system. Here’s a video showing an in-depth rundown of how Trophies will work. A lot of it seems very similar to the 360 Achievements, down to even the interface for viewing and comparing Trophies.
Source: Kotaku
Yesterday Harmonix dropped the official announcement of Rock Band 2, the follow up to their immensely successful music game that released late last year. The second installment in the series will not introduce a new instrument, as previously rumored, but it will be improving on the instruments that already are out there. The new guitar will be a replica of the Fender Stratocaster and will feature faux woodgrain buttons. The new drum kit will be sturdier than the original (which occasionally had problems reported of the plastic base pedal mount breaking) and should be designed to be quieter in use (as opposed to the original, which sounds like a herd of elephants running through whenever it’s played).
The biggest news about Rock Band 2 is that it will be completely compatible with any songs you’ve downloaded for Rock Band 1. In fact, all Rock Band song downloads will be universally playable across both games, which means that even if you don’t buy Rock Band 2, you’ll still be able to buy and play new songs with your original Rock Band game. This is exciting stuff that works in the consumer’s favor, and it looks like it’s becoming an industry standard for music games, as Guitar Hero World Tour will be adopting a similar policy for reverse compatibility with Guitar Hero 3 downloads.
Additionally, Rock Band 2 will feature brand new online play modes and over 80 new songs, all of which will be master recordings from the bands. There haven’t been confirmations about the new online modes, but the strong hint has been that you’ll be able to play the Band World Tour mode online now. Rock Band 2’s tracks will feature more female fronted bands, as well as a number of groups that have never been featured in music games before. Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos says in an AP interview, “With the original ‘Rock Band,’ the focus was on innovation. With ‘Rock Band 2,’ the focus is on perfection of the experience. We’ve had a year to listen to our fans and build out the scope, depth and polish of the experience, so it feels like a second-generation band game.”
Rock Band 2 will ship first for the XBox 360 in September and then later in the year for the Wii, Playstation 2, and Playstation 3. There’s no comment yet on how much the game will cost or exactly what configurations will ship. It’s safe to guess that there will be a big bundle that comes with all the instruments, as well as a standalone game and the ability to buy the instruments separately, though. The September release will put Rock Band 2 on the shelves a month before Guitar Hero World Tour’s October release.
Source: Yahoo! News and IGN
Starting today on the XBox 360 and Thursday on the Playstation 3, you’ll be able to download the full album Doolittle by The Pixies, as well as a pack of three songs from Weezer’s new Red Album. Here’s a rundown of exactly what you’ll get and what you can expect to pay:
The Pixies:
The whole Doolittle album is available as a big pack of all 14 songs for 1520 MS Points ($18.99).
Weezer:
The pack of all three Weezer songs is downloadable for 440 MS Points ($5.49).
All the tracks released this week are master recordings from the original artists. Sadly, there’s no “Pork and Beans” from Weezer in sight.
In a press release today, Sony announced that their new Qore program will be going live on the Playstation Network on June 5. Qore is an interactive monthly program that will deliver new media, interviews, and previews to subscribers. Much of the content sounds similar to the Inside XBox feature that’s available for free on the XBox 360, but the Playstation 3 version will cost $2.99 for the first episode, or $24.99 for an annual subscription of twelve episodes. Qore does sound more customizable than the Inside XBox feature, allowing users to utilize multiple windows, picture-in-picture viewing, and other options. The press release describes what players can expect from the first episode:
Premiering on June 5, the first episode includes in-depth, exclusive and never-before released content on upcoming PlayStation titles such as SOCOM:US. Navy SEALs ConfrontationTM, Star Wars: The Force UnleashedTM, Secret Agent ClankTM, Soul Calibur 4TM and Afro SamuraiTM as well as the latest Blu-ray DiscTM trailers, an exclusive SOCOM: Confrontation theme with an invitation to the SOCOM: Confrontation beta, art galleries and a few other surprises.
Qore is produced and published by SCEA and under an exclusive development agreement with Future US, Inc., publisher of PlayStation: The Official Magazine.
New episodes will go up the first Thursday of each month. For a limited time, if you buy the year subscription you’ll also get a free download of the PSN game Calling All Cars.
Source: Sony
One of the longest hyped and most anticipated additions to the Playstation 3 is the long awaitied Playstation Home, a service that would allow Playstation 3 users to create avatars and interact with other players in a virtual Sims-ish / Second Life-ish world. Home also would offer achievement-like trophies and customziable houses where players could “live” and show off their gaming accomplishments.
Home has been in beta for a while now, and Playstation Network director Susan Panico now has announced that it’s going to stay in beta, even through release. She describes Home’s presentation to the public as being similar to that of GMail and calls it an “open, working beta.” Home should be publicly available to users, in one form or another, by the end of the year.
Source: Wired
The rumors have been rampant ever since the game shipped for the XBox 360, and now it’s confirmed: Bioshock is coming to the Playstation 3. Aside from the official confirmation of the port to the PS3, there aren’t really any details about the new version at this time. The next issue of PSM3, releasing June 5, promises an in depth look at the game on its new platform, but I have no doubt there will be some details trickling out between now and then.
Source: ComputerAndVideoGames
Singstar is a big Playstation 2 hit, and it’s hitting the Playstation 3 on May 20 with the launch of the US Singstar Store. The store launch comes as a standalone disc for $40 or as a bundle with two microphones for $60. The initial songlist includes 30 tracks, and a whole bunch more will be available for download through the Playstation Network for $1.49 a piece. Here’s what you’ll get with your initial purchase:
Amy Winehouse - “Back To Black”
Beck - “Loser”
Blind Melon - “No Rain”
Blink-182 - “All The Small Things”
Britney Spears - “Toxic”
Coldplay - “Clocks”
Corinne Bailey Rae - “Put Your Records On”
Dave Matthews Band - “Crash Into Me”
David Bowie - “Let’s Dance”
Faith No More - “Epic”
Franz Ferdinand - “Do You Want To?”
Jane’s Addiction - “Been Caught Stealing”
New Found Glory - “My Friends Over You”
Ne-Yo - “So Sick”
OutKast - “Hey Ya!”
Pixies - “Here Comes Your Man”
R.E.M. - “Losing My Religion”
Radiohead - “No Surprises”
Scissor Sisters - “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’”
The Automatic Automatic - “Monster”
The Cardigans - “Lovefool”
The Killers - “Mr. Brightside”
The Pussycat Dolls - “Beep”
The Ramones - “I Wanna Be Sedated”
The Rolling Stones - “Sympathy For The Devil”
The Smashing Pumpkins - “Today”
U2 - “Beautiful Day”
Warrant - “Cherry Pie”
Weezer - “Buddy Holly”
Wolfmother - “Love Train”
PS3Fanboy also has the full initial list of downloadable songs, and it’s pretty huge.
Source: PS3Fanboy
Home, the Playstation 3 Second Life-like game / community system, has been pushed back to a fall 2008 release. Here’s the official word from Sony:
“Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) announced today that it will expand the Closed Beta testing for PLAYSTATION®Home in Summer 2008, inviting a further number of registrants from the PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3®) users. Following completion of the Expanded Closed Beta test, the PLAYSTATION Home Open Beta service will commence in Fall 2008.
“We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer, but we have come to the conclusion that we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today,” said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “Our overarching objective is to provide users with new gaming experiences that are available only on PLAYSTATION Home. Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation® tradition.”
The PLAYSTATION Home Open Beta service that will become available in Fall 2008 will be built around providing new and fun community gaming experiences.”
I’m planning to finally pick up my own Playstation 3 when the Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle hits this summer, and I’ve been looking forward to building my own home and collecting trophies in Home (and yes, I’m an achievement junkie on the XBox 360). I guess we’ll just have a bit longer wait now.
Harmonix has announced next week’s DLC for Rock Band, and it consists of:
There also will be a Classic Rock pack for 440 MS Points ($5.50) that will let you download all three songs at once for some savings. All three songs are master tracks from the original artists, and they’ll be available for download on the X-Box 360 Marketplace on Tuesday. The Playstation Store is still down for upgrades, so it’ll be Thursday before these tracks show up for the PS3.
Harmonix announced next week’s new downloadable content for Rock Band today, and it turns out that it’s not so new after all. The three songs coming to the XBox Live Marketplace next Tuesday are the same songs that were on the Official XBox Magazine disc released in January. The songs will be downloadable on the Playstation 3 at a later date due to the ongoing upgrades Sony is doing for the Playstation Network.
The “new” DLC will be:
All three songs are master tracks this time, and you will be able to download them as a pack of all three for 240 MS Points ($3).
