Archive for the ‘Demos’ Category
God of War: Ghost of Sparta Demo for Spartan Army, God of War Live Recap
Posted by Ken Chan in Demos, god of war ghost of sparta, PlayStation Games, psp, ready at dawn studios on September 3rd, 2010
Spartan Army! Disappointed that you couldn’t make it to God of War Live?
Unable to attend the PAX PlayStation.Blog Beyond meetup in Seattle yesterday?
No worries! We’ve got you covered on the God of War: Ghost of Sparta Demo.
We know our Spartan Army members are true die-hard God of War fans, so it only makes sense for us to grant our opted-in registrants all premiums and first access. As part of a ‘thank you’ to our hardcore Spartan Army members, we are emailing out demo voucher codes to each and every GodofWar.com and SpartansStandTall.com registrants today, Friday, September 3rd at 2:00pm Pacific time.
So be sure to check your email inbox for your own access to the God of War: Ghost of Sparta demo experience.
All we ask is that you’re within the United States, Canada or Mexico. You must also be a GodofWar.com or SpartansStandTall.com registrant on or before 08/01/2010. For European residence, please check with PlayStation.Blog.Europe for more information.
For those that couldn’t attend, God of War Live on Wednesday was absolutely incredible! Thank you again for all that attended and making the event a huge success. Over 150 of our PlayStation.Blog community was treated to an unfiltered, non-censored, no-holds-barred discussions with the entire cast of God of War Game Directors. Those who attended could tell you that the responses given by David, Cory, Ru, Stig and Dan were honest and totally unscripted.
Three very fortunate attendees won our raffle prizing at the end of the night, including the God of War: Ghost of Sparta Entertainment Pack, Franchise Bundle, and the mystery prize… the first and only print of the official Art of God of War III from Ballistic Publishing — a 272-page book revealing more than 100 pieces of artwork that didn’t appear in the game. Best of all, it was signed by each of the five God of War game directors, and he took the ONLY public released copy home the same night. Visit Ballistic Publishing for more info.
To witness the recording of God of War Live, be sure to pre-order God of War: Ghost of Sparta at any of our participating retailers to secure your six-item pre-order bonuses.
Every End Must First Begin.
R.U.S.E. Demo Hits PSN Today, PlayStation Move Details
Posted by Mathieu Girard in Demos, PlayStation Games, playstation move, PS3, PSN, ruse, ubisoft on August 31st, 2010
As a dev team, we’re beyond excited to see the release of R.U.S.E. drawing near — it launches in the U.S. on September 7th, so we’re just about a week away!
R.U.S.E. enables players to use manipulation and trickery against their enemies. In fact, deception is at the very heart of R.U.S.E., and you’ll find that without it you cannot succeed. With R.U.S.E., we aimed to create an RTS that goes beyond the established rules of the genre — we sincerely hope we have succeeded. You will soon be able to judge for yourself, since we are making a demo of R.U.S.E. available on PSN today!
In the demo, players will be able to check out an exclusive mission from the Italy campaign and play as U.S. General Joe Sheridan, leading the U.S. army in a fight against Germany and Italy. The final objective: cut off a German offensive from withdrawing by attacking them from behind. Although the Axis forces are retreating in this mission, players will see that one should be very cautious when attacking a wounded beast… if you need a hint, or don’t mind spoilers, check out the “Divide & Conquer” video above, which outlines one of the numerous strategies you can use to bluff your opponent on the road to victory.
We’re really proud of the game’s compatibility with PlayStation Move. Since the early conception
phase for R.U.S.E., we wanted to create a strategy game plays equally well on PC and consoles, with simple controls and an interface that allows players to focus on the strategy, rather than the UI. Although the game plays like a charm with a standard controller, we couldn’t resist pushing things even further with PlayStation Move support. It is really a matter of matching philosophies: we want our game to play naturally, and PlayStation Move can provide games with this opportunity. So we used all the features of Move — optical, acceleration, and magnetic — to create smooth and natural interactions that allow you to change the view angle and zoom, control units and access the menu.
We hope you will have a great time trying the demo, please visit us at rusegame.com for more information about the game.
A Few Rallies with Virtua Tennis 4 and PlayStation Move
Posted by James Gallagher in 3D, Demos, PlayStation Games, playstation move, PS3, sega, virtua tennis 4 on August 30th, 2010
As dark clouds have taken residence over London and the weather resembles a certain interactive drama, I don’t think I’ll be stepping onto a tennis court any time soon. Luckily, I have a PlayStation Move motion controller, a 3D TV and an early demo of Virtua Tennis 4 to tide me over.
I recently spoke to the game’s Executive Producer, Mie Kumagai, and asked why she had chosen to develop a tennis game when she served us the first in the Virtua Tennis series, back in 1999.
“When we first started the series, we wanted to make a casual arcade game that everyone could pick up and enjoy,” she said. “Sport seemed like a good place to start because it appeals to many people that wouldn’t usually play games. That was the start of the series, but we reached a point where we were looking for something new; it’s around this time that we heard about PlayStation Move.”
Virtua Tennis 4 lets you step into the shoes of some of the world’s best tennis pros. Every swing of the racquet can be performed with the PlayStation Move motion controller and you can judge the approach of the ball better than ever, thanks to stereoscopic 3D support. I asked Kumagai for her thoughts on Move and her philosophy behind working with a motion controller.
“I saw PlayStation Move at quite an early stage in its development,” she replied, “and I remember being curious about what Sony [Computer Entertainment] had been working on and excited about the new technology.”
“We have two points of consideration when it comes to the game’s controls. The first is that we want the game to be playable without the user having to press any buttons at all; in other words, you are relying entirely on your own movement.”
“The second consideration is to achieve a good balance between first and third person points of view. If we wan the game to be totally realistic, then first person would be the way to go, but that way you kind of lose the fun of controlling top tennis players like Roger Federer, so we have aimed for the right mixture of the two.”
The demo available to play at gamescom (and my desk) features Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Your character’s left and right movement is automatic but each swing of the racquet must be performed by the player and you can drop back or rush to the net by physically stepping back or forward. There’s a dynamic camera system in place, so when the ball is in the other half of the court, the camera pans out so that you can see your position.
When the ball is coming towards you, it glides seamlessly into a first person viewpoint where you can see your racquet in front of you and time your swing accordingly. You can even twist the racquet to adjust its face when it connects with the ball, allowing skilled players to apply spin. It’s accessible and extremely intuitive, especially when playing in stereoscopic 3D.
“The balance between accessibility and realism in very important when it comes to gameplay, but I think that Virtua Tennis with Move has a really good system, where the gameplay and the controls are in perfect sync. Building the game up from this existing system wasn’t too hard for us,” Kumagai added.
Virtua Tennis 4 will be available on PlayStation 3 in Spring 2011.
Vanquish DEMO Coming to PSN Next Week!
Posted by Julian Mehlfeld in Demos, PlayStation Games, PS3, PSN, sega, vanquish on August 27th, 2010
Hellooo PlayStation.Blog – my name is Julian Mehlfeld and I’m the community manager on Vanquish here at SEGA. I’m very happy to be writing this blog all about our soon-to-release Vanquish demo for PlayStation 3, which should be out on August 31 across PSN. For everyone at SEGA, this is very exciting news, and we hope you enjoy taking a spin on SEGA and PlatinumGames newest offering. Before we jump into the details, I want to give you a quick bit of info on the setting, the game, and then offer you a bit of a challenge.
The Story So Far…
Vanquish is set in a desperate future, one that centers around exponential population growth, a demand for resources, and a political power play from Russia that lands you in the heart of the action aboard an orbiting space station. You play Sam Gideon, DARPA Agent and co-designer of some very advanced technology – the Augmented Reaction Suit (ARS). Your mission is to work with the infiltrating military to restore order, find your fellow agents, and prevent an attack on New York City, among other American targets.
The Secret to Success
Vanquish is the newest game from the mind of Shinji Mikami, creator of such classics as Resident Evil. Known for his epic games, Shinji Mikami has taken on the 3rd person shooter in a way that only he could. Working with PlatinumGames, together they’ve come up with a very fast, very fluid, and very intense cover to cover shooter. How you operate the Augmented Reaction Suit (ARS) system and the key abilities it grants you will be the deciding factor in your success – or failure. The two abilities that I find the most useful are Boost and Augmented Reaction (AR).
The Augmented Reaction Suit, you’ll find, is incredibly fast and agile when you use Boost to navigate around the demo area. Boost allows you to dash over to save wounded marines, evade attacks, or quickly close the distance on any enemy to deliver a punishing melee attack. Boost into cover, boost out of cover – boosting is one of the best tools you have for both defensive and offensive action in Vanquish.
While Boost grants you speed, Augmented Reaction (AR) will grant you time. Time will save you in both a reactive and proactive manner – push forward with your Boost and flip on AR to destroy enemies while you dash past them. Jump out of cover into AR to line up headshots and stop a guarded threat behind cover. Roll into AR, plant your body, and focus fire at heavily guarded targets for maximum efficiency. Defensively – you’ll enter into AR when you take on too much damage, granting you a moment to kill your main threat, or evade into cover to recharge and continue the fight.
I highly recommend checking out the tutorial before jumping into the full game to see how these two abilities play out. You’ll get a chance to mess around in a safe environment and become comfortable with how the game works. Trust me, you can adapt while you play the game and absolutely get through it – but you will benefit from a bit of practice!
The Demo Challenge
So as a spot of fun, I figured I’d leave you with a challenge to see if you can best what I consider to be a very impressive clear-time on the demo. Our own internal producer, Keith, has become quite good at the demo from various trade shows and has a clear time of 6 minutes and 12 seconds. I challenge you to beat this time! Keith is good, but I’m betting the community will be able to best him in a few short days after release – prove me right, post screenshots if you can, and show them what community can do!
The Vanquish Demo releases on Tuesday, August 31 at a time to be specified by PSN – we hope you enjoy the demo and look forward to your impressions!
SOCOM 4 gamescom Floor Demo: Video tour
Posted by Jeremy Dunham in Demos, gamescom10, PS3, socom 4, zipper on August 26th, 2010
It’s a proud week for us here at Zipper Interactive as tomorrow marks the 8th birthday of our first-ever PS2 game and the title that started a huge multimillion-selling franchise, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs. To celebrate the eight-year mark, we’ve put together a special video for our fans.
In it, you’ll experience the gamescom 2010 SOCOM 4 demo in its entirety with commentary by lead designer, Travis Steiner. This is the first time anywhere that you’ll see the gamescom demo played all the way through and in high-definition, making it a “must watch” for anyone even remotely interested in what we have in store for 2011.
Let us know what you think below, and please accept our sincerest thanks for making the first eight years of SOCOM as great as they have been. Here’s to many more to come!
NHL 11 Demo Live on PSN: Two Modes, Classic Controls Included
Posted by Alain Quinto in Demos, nhl 11, PlayStation Games, PS3, PSN on August 18th, 2010
With three weeks to ship, hockey fans can get a taste of what to expect come September 7th as the NHL 11 Demo is now LIVE on the PlayStation Network! Watch the NHL 11 PSN demo launch trailer below.
Those that download the demo will get a sampling of two game modes: Battle for the Cup and Hockey Ultimate Team. Battle for the Cup allows fans (single or local multiplayer) to play the 3rd period of Game Seven in the Stanley Cup Finals between the Philadelphia Flyers at Chicago Blackhawks. The score will be different each game as it will be simmed up to that point in time. You will be able to view the box score of the first two periods prior to entering gameplay.
In the Hockey Ultimate Team portion of the demo, each user will receive a Starter Pack of cards. You will be able to edit your lineup and try to maximize chemistry. For consumables, you will start with a couple of Training Cards and will earn more Training Cards that can be applied to your team after each game you play in the offline tournament (only tournament available in the demo). Just like in the Battle for the Cup mode, each game will be in the 3rd period (up to three games).
Not every demo HUT team will be the same. There is a pool of 75 players, 4 jerseys and 4 logos that the user can get in their starter pack. Each user will receive 24 players, 2 jerseys (one home and one away) and 1 logo in their starter pack. Once the user quits out of HUT and re-enters, their team will be reset with a new group of cards.
You will earn EA Pucks after every game you play in HUT whether they win or lose. The point of allowing EA Puck earning in the demo is to show you approximately how many pucks you will receive when you complete HUT games.
Just for entering Hockey Ultimate Team in the demo, you will receive a small reward pack when you play HUT in the full title. If the user wins the HUT demo tournament the reward pack that they would have received for playing the demo will turn into a larger reward pack that contains a rare card. Users will also receive an additional reward pack in the full title if they invite their friends to play the demo via PSN. Note, however, that your demo HUT team will not transfer to the full game.
Classic controls will be available in the demo. You can choose between Default, Classic, NHL 94 Controls, and Custom control schemes. You can do this in the pause menu once you enter gameplay. All camera options available in the full title will also be available in the demo (Ice, Classic, Overhead, Broadcast and Action).
The demo is just under 1.2 GB and Bottom of the Well by Airbourne and Full of Regret by Danko Jones are the two music tracks in the sampling. Also, an interactive tutorial will be available on the main menu of the demo and Hockey Ultimate Team tutorial video is also played before you create your HUT team.
Enjoy the demo and let us know what you think with your constructive critique!
Valkyria Chronicles II Demo Available on PSN Today
Posted by Aaron Webber in Demos, PlayStation Games, psp, sega, valkyria chronicles II on August 10th, 2010
Howdy Valkyria Chronicles fans – the time is almost here!
As Valkyria Chronicles II gets close to its August 31st release, we’d like to give you all a little sample of the game to try out and play for yourselves! If you’ve been wondering how Valkyria Chronicles II holds up to the first game, today you can experience the glory of getting those lovely headshots on a rebel (or ten) while on-the-go.
If you loved the first game, you’ll be glad to see that the feel of battle has been not only preserved, but also improved upon greatly. The new multi-field battle layout also adds another level of strategy, giving some missions a number of paths for you to send your squad through. Jeff and I also talked about the multiplayer in one of the recent blogs here, which offers both cooperative and competitive play in addition to the full RPG storyline.
Valkyria Chronicles II may be a PSP game in relation to its older PS3 brother, but trust me when I say not to take it lightly. This little gem not only manages to do justice to one of my favorite RPG Battle systems – ever – but also brings back the CANVAS system for a beautiful watercolor finish that looks just as good as it plays.
Finally, I’d like to include one other confirmation here on the blog: We’ve added a few new exclusive items to the Western version of the game! Among the many stickers that you can get for your tank or vehicle, we’ve added in a few brand new ones that both old and new SEGA fans are sure to smile at. Those of you who loved the first game will also be happy to note that we’ve included a few original characters as unlockable Easter eggs, just like in the Japanese version.
I could write about my love for this series for pages and pages – but the easiest way to experience Valkyria Chronicles is truly to play it. We hope you all will enjoy the demo when it goes live later today, and I’d love to hear what you guys think.
As always, hit us up with any questions or comments below, and I’ll do my best to respond to them all. All the best, and have fun!
TerRover Demo Comes to Qore Tomorrow
Posted by Scott Hyman in creat studios, Demos, PlayStation Network, QORE, terrover on August 9th, 2010
Hello, PlayStation World! I’m back to share our most exciting news of the year. We’re thrilled to let you know about our upcoming PlayStation Network exclusive, TerRover. We’ve been working hard on this one for a while, and we’re eager to let you get your hands on it and discover the engaging gameplay for yourselves.
You can do just that with the free demo of TerRover available with both versions of Qore tomorrow. Plus, you can watch the (hopefully not-embarrassing) interview with me at E3, chatting it up with Veronica about why the game is so much fun.
The TerRover is a cute little robot buggy with a big smile and warm heart in need of your help to find a new planetary home for him and his friends. The TerRover’s controls aren’t quite like anything else out there. His head slides back and forth across his body as you change direction. One button press places his head under his body to turn him over. And most importantly, the left stick lets you pivot your TerRover up and down from either end. You’ll need to master this skill in order to save the TerRover population!
You get weapons and tools, too. Choose from various chassis equipped with rocket launchers, magnet cables and more. They’ll come in handy in tight spots, and assist in collecting all the mechanical parts scattered about and discovering the numerous secret areas and hidden passages. You’ll find yourself aching to come back and explore every inch of every level.
We’re very eager here at Creat Studios to find out what you all think of our newest game. Sony Online Entertainment has been incredibly supportive, and they’ve helped us make the best game we can. As always… a big, big thank you to all of our fans out there. We simply could not what we love without you. Please drop by our website, check us out on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter, as we want to know what you think.
Flower Power: Art Contest Winners, New Demo
Posted by Randall Lowe in contests, Demos, flower, PlayStation Games, PSN, thatgamecompany on August 6th, 2010
Hi everyone! I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who spun their creative gears and submitted entries to the Flower fan art contest. We here at the Santa Monica Studio and the team at thatgamecompany really enjoyed seeing all the great pieces you submitted. TGC has chosen the five best pieces, which you can check out below. Nice work everyone, and congratulations to the winners! The winners will be receiving their $20 PSN cards soon.
Chris B.
Great contrasting colors! The sky gives off a very cool feeling, and I dig the moon in the background.
Edward L.
Very clean and elegant! It captures a lot of iconic elements in a single piece.
Katherine M.
This looks like it was a ton of work! The piece has a great mood to it, and really shows the flowing nature of the game.
Lydia H.
Great close-up work and detail, there is a lot of great tonal range within the pink. Really an outstanding job with this piece.
Wilmaris S.
A true fan — takes a picture WITH the painting. Great job capturing the freedom that the wind gives the petals and the sway of the grass.
Oh yeah, there’s also this other REALLY cool tid-bit of news. The Flower demo was released on PSN last week! TGC put in the time and effort to really bring a nice demo to you few hold-outs who have yet to get this award-winning game! So don’t wait any further, rush over to the PlayStation Store and pick-up the Flower Demo to see what everyone is talking about. The other great thing is, since this is a trial, all you have to do is purchase the unlock key at the end of the demo, and the whole game is yours for just $9.99!
So thanks again to everyone who contributed , we really appreciate the effort, and congratulations to TGC’s five top picks!
Coming Tuesday to PSN: Kane & Lynch Demo for PS3
Posted by Grace Chen in Demos, kane & lynch 2: dog days, PlayStation Games, playstation plus, PS3, PSN, square-enix on July 16th, 2010
We’ve got exciting news for PlayStation Plus members! On Tuesday, July 20, an exclusive demo of Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days will be available for automatic delivery to your PlayStation 3 system, just for PlayStation Plus subscribers. The demo is available exclusively to PlayStation Plus members for one week on the PlayStation Store — both by automatic download and from the storefront.
The demo will be available to all PlayStation Store users on Tuesday, July 27.
IMPORTANT: To receive the automatic download, make sure to turn on the “Automatic Download” feature in the “Settings –> “System Settings” menu on the XMB. You can select a timeframe (2-hour interval) you want the PS3 system to check for available downloads.
Here are some things to know:
- You must be an active PlayStation Plus subscriber to enjoy the convenience of automatic downloads (which also delivers firmware updates and game patches).
- If you turn on the Automatic Download feature before Monday, July 19, expect to have the Kane & Lynch demo pushed to your system July 20th or 21st. during the timeframe you designate in your settings.
- If you turn on the feature between July 20 – 27, you can expect to have the demo pushed to your system within 24 hours, during the timeframe you designate in your setting.
- You’ll get the demo more quickly if your PS3 is not turned on during the timeframe you designate to check for updates, because the auto download feature of PlayStation Plus looks for content while your PS3 system is turned off.
- The demo will also be published to the PlayStation Plus section of PlayStation Store during our weekly store publish on Tuesday 7/20. Again, this will be available only for PlayStation Plus members.
- Here’s how it works. The Automatic Download feature:
- turns on your PS3 system every 48 hours (during the timeframe you designate)
- checks for content
- downloads anything available to your PS3
- shuts off your PS3 system
- If your system is on during the timeframe you designate to check for updates, your PS3 will check for updates after it is turned off, during its next designated timeframe. This will likely be 24 – 48 hours later.
- If you already have the demo on your system, PlayStation Plus will not push the demo to your system. (This is true even if you get the demo and then delete it.)
- If you haven’t subscribed to PlayStation Plus, there is a 12-month package available for $49.99 and a 3-month package for $17.99. If you purchase the 12-month package now, you get a bonus three months for no additional charge.
- Visit the PlayStation Plus section of PlayStation Store to see the great discounts and free games that are being offered in PS Plus.
Here’s some info on the demo:
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is a raw and brutal crime shooter that redefines the way you experience gaming, delivering an unmatched sense of realism and intensity. The demo includes relentless action in single player and online multiplayer. Play as psychopath Lynch, wanted by the entire underworld and on the run in the backstreets and rooftops of Shanghai. And play Fragile Alliance, the acclaimed multiplayer heist game based on greed, betrayal & revenge, now extended with more risk and more rewards. Get in, steal the loot, and get out in 4 minutes, but trust no one.