PSP news

Mortal Kombat for PS Vita has come out of the gate strong after shipping on May 1st. In just two weeks, players have clashed in hundreds of thousands of online matches across the world. With the PS Vita system players can access a complete Mortal Kombat experience on the go, whether you’re on the bus, in the library, or hanging out with friends.

There are quite a few unique features with this Vita version of Mortal Kombat. While preserving the core gameplay elements, we’ve implemented a ton of new functionalities, such as touchscreen Fatalities and X-Rays, as well as an all-new Challenge Tower II that takes advantage of the diversity of features that the PS Vita system provides.

One question that we continue to see on our official @MK_MortalKombat Twitter is: “Netherrealm, I can’t beat Mission XXX in the new Challenge Tower! Can you help?” Why, yes we can! To answer, we decided to put together some Tips and Tricks videos to outline strategies for some of the more difficult missions within the Challenge Tower II (it’s not called Easy Tower!).

Check out our video here to see our design team spill some secrets on how to master new, exclusive characters and use the new PS Vita system features to their maximum potential. Once you’re done, please share your tips in the comments section below!

A message from a representative at Superbrothers, written in the midst of a spring thunderstorm in the hill country at the Quebec/Vermont border.

It is with immense pleasure that we are announcing our involvement with a video game project known as Sound Shapes. We are extra excited to be contributing alongside sworcery maestro Jim Guthrie. This represents the latest in a series of Superbrothers X Jim Guthrie a/v collaborations dating back to 2005′s musical film Children of the Clone and 2008′s Dot Matrix Revolution, but this will be our first a/v collaboration since 2011′s cult classic videogame Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP.

Much like Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Sound Shapes is a made-in-Toronto DIY videogame that is unusually collaborative and has a heavy emphasis on synesthetic audiovisual style. What’s more, the people making Sound Shapes are all basically our very best pals – they’re the folks with whom we play board games, drink the beers, go skating and play hockey. On every level it’s an honor and a thrill to be involved.

The Superbrothers + Jim Guthrie collaboration will take the form of a Sound Shapes ‘album’ – a series of thematically connected & musically-linked levels known as CORPOREAL.

Sound Shapes is coming to PlayStation Vita, and it’ll be available before too long. Get psyched!!!

The collaborative process

After some initial discussion with Queasy, we chose to explore some of the concepts in prior Superbrothers films including Children of the Clone and Dot Matrix Revolution, so our levels are populated by computers, mainframes, office workers and water coolers. My mom was one of the first female computer programmers in Canada and my father worked as a mainframe computer salesman for decades, so it was nice to set aside the skeletons & space babies of sworcey and get to work on 20th century visual concepts. Meanwhile, the video game design takes the friendly platforming mechanics of Sound Shapes and stretches them in the direction of something like Impossible Mission for C-64 & Spectrum.

With this new collaboration the configuration is quite different. The game design, level design and sound integration are being handled by the Sound Shapes experts at Queasy. The order of operations was a little different this time around too. On S:S&S EP, many of the songs predated the project and I was able to create the world & concepts by listening to specific songs, many of them pre-existing compositions from Jim. In this case, the art assets were created without a specific soundtrack, and then it was up to Jim to craft his sounds to fit the look and concept.

Of course, the real work took place at Queasy & Capy, where a wide-ranging assortment of designers & creators – the Sound Shapes experts – put all the pieces together. Thanks so much for all your hard work folks, it has been a pleasure contributing to your efforts!

So, super excited to share this collaboration and can’t wait for you folks to check it out yourselves. If you’re going to be at E3, be sure to swing by the PlayStation booth for some hands-on time!

In March, we announced our upcoming PS3 and PS Vita game Foosball 2012. And now we’ve returned to PlayStation.Blog to showcase a series of short developer diaries where we introduce you to some of the game’s coolest features, like PlayStation Move support, full cross-platform compatibility between PS3 and PS Vita and also the online multiplayer mode.

Our first video demonstrates Foosball 2012 and PlayStation Move motion controllers in action, showing that you can play this game exactly the way you are used from a real table football (“foosball”) game. Thanks to the precision and zero lag of PlayStation Move, even the slightest movements of your hands can be properly translated into the game, allowing you to precisely control the shot power, positions of your foosmen, and so on.

One or two PS Move controllers can be used by one player, or you can ignore motion controls and play with the time-tested DualShock 3 controller, where the left stick controls the poles and movements of the ball and the right stick is used to shoot, allowing you to accurately aim and control the shot power.

In our next video, we will show you how PS3-to-PS Vita crossplay and game continuation will work. Foosball 2012 will be released soon on the PlayStation Store, and both the PS3 and PS Vita versions will come together for a single price. If you want to know more about Foosball 2012, visit our official website here.

This week, Music Unlimited features new releases from Adam Lambert, Tenacious D, and Best Coast, as well as new singles from Pantera, Santana, Beach House, and Godsmack. Also, to celebrate the 2012 Billboard Music Awards, we’ve launched the 2012 Billboard Music Awards Premium Channel, which is stacked with hits from the finalists and performers.

New to the Video Unlimited Video Store this week is the mind-bending Chronicle. Also, The Devil Inside is available in Movies, and The Grey arrives in Rent Now. The Avengers and other comic book superhero animated features are available for just five buck in this week’s Own $5 Films.

Also, don’t miss the Collections & Sales section where you’ll discover 10-Minute Previews — yep, 10 minute previews of movies for free! Get the full details on this week’s highlights here.

It’s been too long since I’ve posted to PlayStation.Blog…but soon you’ll see why! We recently joined Spike’s Geoff Keighley on the latest episode of GTTV tonight to show off some cool new Carmelita gameplay in addition to a very special announcement: Sly Cooper is coming to PS Vita this fall!

First off, a look at new gameplay. As every Sly fan knows, Sly Cooper and Carmelita Fox have a long and torrid history — a history that’s destined to continue in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. The game picks up where Sly 3 left off, and Sly is feigning amnesia so he can be with the love of his life, Carmelita. But when he rejoins the Cooper Gang on their time-traveling escapade to restore his family’s legacy, you can be sure Carmelita will quickly become embroiled in their wild adventure.

Carmelita is radiant on the PS3, and the powerful graphics hardware allowed us to make her much more detailed and expressive than in the past titles on PS2. She is, of course, a fully playable character in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and so we also spent a lot of time evolving her gameplay. We have gone with a more precise over-the-shoulder aiming technique that allows players to lock on the targets quickly and easily. You can see how this can be put to good use in the multi-layered boss battle.

Now for more big news! Ever since we revealed the game, fans have been asking me about PS Vita, arguing that Sly would be a great game to take on the go. I completely agree…and I can now confirm that Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time will be shipping this fall on BOTH the PS3 and the PS Vita, on the same day.

The portable version will contain all the same awesome Sly Cooper action you will find on the PS3 along with cool Vita-specific features that incorporate the front and rear touchscreens and motion controls. The game will also feature cross-save capability, so you’ll be able to save the game from either machine and then pick up right where you left off — whether you’re at home or on the go.

So there you go! We are thrilled to finally show Carmelita in action — she’s a big fan favorite and I know everyone will love how she looks and plays in the latest installment of the series — and to be announcing the PS Vita version of the game. It’s been a crazy ride over the last few months, but when we see the results we know it was worth it. :D So stay tuned for more PS Vita details including date and price coming very soon.

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With Jeff and Rey in L.A. for pre-E3 activities, and Nick still wandering his ancestral homelands in Africa, I preside over today’s somewhat more intimate show. Luckily, I roped in PSN Sr. Community Manager Matthew Harper to share his eye-opening Origin Story, which provides some helpful tips for those of you who have wondered how to break into game development.

We kick off with a late-breaking interview featuring Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley from Naughty Dog, the creative director and game director of upcoming PS3 survival epic The Last of Us. If you’ve wondered how the game will play compared to UNCHARTED, or how Naughty Dog is handling the game’s decidedly mature themes, today’s shows will provide the answers you need.

Then we shift gears for a detailed discussion with Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning and Just Add Water CEO Stewart Gilray. The pair provide insight into the upcoming PS Vita version of Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath HD, discuss how PSN’s indie-minded model has reinvigorated the seminal series, and lay out their plans for world domination.

And as always, we reveal next week’s PSN game lineup, share a selection of new user questions and tips, and provide a head-scratching new Mystery Theme.

Stuff We Talked About

• The Last of Us – new in-game cutscene
• Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD

The Cast

Sid Shuman – PlayStation Sr. Social Media Specialist

Jeff Rubenstein – PlayStation Sr. Social Media Manager

Matthew Harper – Sr. Community Manager, PSN

Rey Gutierrez – PlayStation Sr. Social Media Specialist

[Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game
details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating
descriptions.]

• Thanks to Cory Schmitz for our beautiful logo and Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music. Special thanks to Astro Gaming headsets for providing audio gear.

Warheads! Last Tuesday, May 8th, LightBox Interactive and Santa Monica Studio released Starhawk into the wild. Getting here was a real &*#%^# at times, but it sure as hell has been a fun ride! If you’d like to peek behind the curtains look at the final days of Starhawk’s development, check out this video. We shot it a few weeks before release and it’ll give you a nice glimpse into the inner workings of a game developer in crunch mode.

We’ll also be able to tell you more about some great downloadable items soon, including our first free map…Cypress. Stay tuned for details!

In this new behind-the-scenes video, our final installment of our four-part series detailing the making of Sorcery, we discuss what it took to create the game’s vast, magical universe. You’ll gain insight into the numerous creative decisions that we had to make, such as crafting the look and feel of the different environments — from The Realm of the Dead to the Faerie Forest — and the strange and dangerous beasts that inhabit them. You’ll hear from the development team on how we went about making a fantasy world feel otherworldly, details on the backstory behind places like the Endless Stair and the Faerie Forest, and some anecdotes on why the prettiest character in Sorcery is also one of the most dangerous!

Sorcery hits store shelves next week, Tuesday, May 22nd. For more info on this eagerly anticipated PlayStation Move title, visit our official site.

I'm Steve and I'd love to tell you about the latest great PS Vita Augmented Reality game Table Top Tanks, which we developed at Devil’s Details in Sheffield, UK. When we were asked if we’d like to develop Table Top Tanks by our friends at SCEE we couldn’t believe our luck: Who doesn’t like blowing stuff up with Tanks? And we got to play with and help develop PlayStation’s AR technology too. So, we said “Yes please!” and got down to work.

So, what’s in Table Top Tanks? Firstly, there are the tanks: They’re quite quick, nimble and fun to drive and you can choose from 10 different colors. Their main cannon is pretty powerful and you can upgrade its shell type by running over pickups; my favorite is the bouncing missile – they’re great fun to spray into the edge of the arena and watch them cause carnage and confusion as they bounce around. To get you started playing the game we’ve included a single player campaign, which will teach you how to play and challenge your tank skills.

But the real fun comes making your own maps using the simple editor. You pick a map size – small, medium or large – and then place virtual shapes around real world objects, so PS Vita can “see” the objects. You can also fill the shapes with water, smoke or fire and so that when they’re shot by a missile they’ll leak water, spill smoke or be set on fire.

Once you’ve crafted your level it’s time to play from a choice of capture the flag, last man standing or two vs. two game modes.

Table Top Tanks allows you to play with and against AI tanks (and you can choose how smart they are) but it’s much more fun to play against up to three friends over Ad Hoc. Share your newly created battlefield with your friends and duke it out from different angles. It’s really great fun, and because the levels are quick and easy to make go ahead and experiment by creating new maps.

With a little effort you can also move Table Top Tanks from the table top. If you print some new markers out but scale them up (we printed them so they filled A4 sheets, just make sure you keep the aspect ratio the same), you can upscale the awesome by playing Table Top Tanks on the floor rather than on a desktop. The Tanks become model car size and you can set up obstacles using the editor and get the whole house involved, blasting the dog or setting fire to the coffee table. We played quite a lot of large marker Table Top Tanks when we were developing the game and it’s serious fun; get some friends together and give it a go.

Finally, if you fancy a little extra twist on the tanks, we’ve got a tank pack DLC in the works which features our take on “toy” tanks. They’ve got a really distinct, bouncy shape and you also get a themed fighter jet too. They’re a firm favorite with us and we’re sure you’ll enjoy playing with them.

We look forward to hearing everyone’s feedback!

Attention GT Academy competitors: we are now in the third week of the 2012 season, and the competition is heating up. Since May 1st, nearly 600,000 competitors have driven more than 51,000 miles and reattempted 52,000 times for their chance to become this year’s GT Academy Champion.

As you may already know, Round 3 and 4 became available this week – offering faster and more advanced technical driving challenges to prepare you for the final eighth round starting in June.

To give you a leg up on the competition, TwitchTV will be doing a live webcast with the first US GT Academy Champion Bryan Heitkotter today at 6pm Pacific Time. Be sure not to miss this as Bryan will be providing some inside tips for each of the round challenges and his predictions for this year’s winner.

Here’s a quick reminder for each of the challenges from Round 1-4:

Round 1: Nissan Leaf (Current Leaderboards)

• Simple Right-Hand Corner
• Simple Left-Hand Corner
• Simple Series of Corners
• Series of Blind Corners
• Driving with Opponents

Round 2: Nissan Silvia Spec-R Aero (Current Leaderboards)

• Long Banked Corner
• Hard Braking Before a Corner
• Series of Corners on the Rome City Course
• S Curves 1
• High-Speed Approach to a Series of Corners

Round 3: Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II (Current Leaderboards)

• Rotary Corner in the Madrid City Course
• S Curve at Suzuka Circuit
• Continuous Corners and Elevation Changes
• Variations of Corners
• Maintaining Stability in High-Speed Sections

Round 4: Nissan 370Z (GT Academy) ’08 (Current Leaderboards)

• The Nurburgring’s “Kallenhard” Section
• Low Speed ‘S’ Curve with Changing Radius
• ‘S’ Curves 2
• Suzuka Circuit’s “Spoon Curve”
• The “Variante Ascari” and “Parabolica” at Monza

Remember, in case you haven’t started, GT Academy 2012 is available as a free downloadable through the PlayStation Store until the end of the competition on June 24th. See if you have what it takes to become the next GT Academy Champion!

More information on GT Academy is available through the official site and our Facebook page.