PlayStation News, Articles and Information for the UK and Europe

After weeks of turmoil with constant game freezes in Dragon Age: Origins, I can finally reveal that a date has been set for the patch, and it’s sooner than you think! Chris Priestly (one of the developers in BioWare) announced on the BioWare Forums that the latest Dragon Age: Origins Patch was meant to be released at midnight last night PST however the US seems to have had problems as the patch is still not up there, but I have some good news here for you – Update 1.02 is now live in the EU! The patch is set to fix a series of issues including but not limited to the crashes associated with System Software Update 3.30. Also included is a fix to an issue involving the in-game store as well as the addition of the upcoming Darkspawn Chronicles DLC Trophies – which is also released tomorrow. Click ‘Read More’ to see the message posted by Chris.

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Top news site The Examiner has a very interesting story about rumoured improvements coming to the PS3′s XMB (XrossMediaBar) at E3 next month. Although a series of upgrades since the PlayStation 3′s launch have made the current XMB a solid interface, there are several areas that leave room for improvement, not least the messaging interface.

With a very high chance of the ‘Premium PSN’ service being announced at E3 (£50 a year is the cost current estimate), it makes sense that tweaks to the XMB could also be on the cards. Whether the highly desired cross-game cChat function will be part of the rumoured XMB upgrade is anyone’s guess, but one thing we’re sure of is that there will be some excellent developments from E3 this year.

It’s mainly the usual suspects again this week but it’s excellent to see that the PS3-exclusive ModNation Racers has made it into the Top 10 – it’s set for release on 21st May so hopefully sales will continue to increase throughout this week.

No surprises that Red Dead Redemption is holding the top spot – some excellent reviews and well-deserved hype could make this one of the biggest games of the year.

It’s also worth mentioning that 3D Dot Game Heroes is hiding just outside the top 10 at number 11 – for such a niche game that’s pretty good going and a welcome sign that the gaming market isn’t totally dominated by First Person Shooters and their various clones.

Outside of that it’s just a bit of a shuffle round again, though Call of Duty: Black Ops seems to have disappeared as the initial hype dies down. Expect it to return with a vengeance come November however…

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Here we are again with yet another episode of FirstPlay to digest, and we must say this week’s content is shaping up pretty well with an RPG lover’s dream (or not) in the form of a review of 3D Dot Game Heroes; on top of that is a review of Lost Planet 2 and a sneak peek at the new PSP addition to the MGS series, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. If that doesn’t float your boat, there are screenshots of strategy game R.U.S.E., a brand new Spider-Man game and much more. In the Network Highlights section there’s a How To… guide for Final Fantasy XIII and a round-up of the best content on the store at the moment. Anything else? Only a Kane & Lynch 2 PS3 Theme to add to your collection. Still not sold? Read on…

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This third ‘Developer Diary’ from Codemasters discusses how the weather effects were implemented. Earlier in the year Codemasters referred to the F1 2010 weather as the ’most realistic weather effects’ ever seen in a computer game. That’s a pretty bold claim but from what we’ve seen so far they might not be too far from the mark. Judge for yourself in the video below:

This second ‘Developer Diary’ from Codemasters offers a glimpse of how the car handling has been implemented in their forthcoming multiplatform racing game F1 2010. Clearly, Codemasters are taking nothing for granted with F1 fans and they seem determined to create this generation’s most authentic F1 gaming experience.

F1 2010 is fast shaping up to be this generation’s definitive F1 racing game. In the first in a series of videos, this ‘Developer Diary’ from Codemasters offers a first look at how the game is shaping up.

This week’s PSN Store update is another quite substantial one; it’s good to see that Sony have really progressed from the early days of the store and now offer a good number of varied downloads each week.

We are sadly still missing the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition here in the Europe; however, according to Ross from the Official EU PlayStation Blog, “Fans of Guybrush have much to look forward to in the coming weeks…”. Read into that what you may…

There’s some decent DLC for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Bioshock 2, in addition to the usual LittleBigPlanet/Rock Band/Guitar Hero add-ons. It would be very interesting to see how much it would cost to buy all of the DLC for LittleBigPlanet, including all the costumes. It must surely come to over £100 by now!

There are several more price reductions, both temporary and permanent, including Magic Orbz (previously known as Magic Ball) which can be great fun for a quick 20 minute gaming session. Unfortunately there are no PSOne Classics this week yet again, though we’re hoping that Final Fantasy IX will be on the store by the end of the summer so that will keep a lot of retro gamers happy for a while. Read more

This week sees a mountain of content fly at you from all sides, with not one but two game reviews – Lost Planet 2 and 3D Dot Game Heroes – as well as a preview of the latest portable MGS. In the highlights section, we have tips on creating the best parties in Final Fantasy XIII as well as the usual round ups of PS One Classics, PSN and the Video Store. The Featured Downloads section sees a new Kane and Lynch 2 Theme, and if that isn’t enough, FirstPlay have promised that the next four episodes will all feature a different PS mini! How cool is that?

The full content is listed below, and the full analysis of the episode should be up on Sunday (or Saturday if you’re lucky!).

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 The North American Collector’s Edition of Fallout: New Vegas has just been unveiled by Bethesda. No word yet on whether there will be European edition but judging by Fallout 3′s treatment it’s probably a safe bet that Europe will be getting something similar. The details we have so far include:

* Lucky 7 poker chips. Each of the seven poker chips was designed to represent chips from the major casinos found on the New Vegas strip and throughout the Mojave Wasteland.

* A fully customized Fallout: New Vegas deck of cards. Each card in the pack has been uniquely illustrated to depict characters and factions found within the game. Use the cards to play poker, blackjack or Caravan, an original card game that was created by Obsidian especially for New Vegas! Read more