PlayStation News, Articles and Information for the UK and Europe

If you weren’t around to watch the Sony E3 Press Briefing yesterday then you might want to learn about the widely rumoured PlayStation Plus which was revealed. This is a new subscription service featuring the ability to download free full games and even trial full games for up to an hour. But that’s not the best bit, if you go to playstationplus.com you’ll see that the page states that the minimum system software version required is 3.40 – whilst we’re only on 3.30 currently.

It is still unknown when this update will hit, but the system software updates generally hit on Tuesdays, so expect one to be announced for the 22nd June or the 29th June (when PlayStation Plus releases). There are also rumours circling Sony that cross game voice chat will be included for free in this update, however Sony has yet to comment. For more information on PlayStation Plus, hit the link here to see nineinchnailed’s post.

This week’s PSN Store update sees the very welcome addition (not to mention surprise, considering that Secret of Monkey Island is still not available in the EU) of the Tales of Monkey Island, essentially the fifth title in the Monkey Island series. Despite not being the first game in the series, Tales of Monkey Island was created with both newcomers and veterans in mind so it should be a lot of fun whether you’re new to the series or not.

Aside from Tales of Monkey Island there is the usual Rock Band etc DLC, a hell of a lot of SingStore songs, and a single PS One Classic in the form of Kurushi Final. If you’re a PSP-Go user you can now get Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker from the PSN Store for £31.99 – pricey, but it’s one of the best PSP games ever made so it’s still good value for money.

A slightly smaller update than usual this week, but perhaps that has something to do with the megaton of information just announced at E3. Read more

With all the news and hype over PlayStation Move, Gran Turismo 5, PlayStation Plus and all the other excitement from E3, the biggest surprise announcement of them all has almost been overshadowed by everything else. Portal 2, from Valve Corporation, is coming to PlayStation 3.

While this may not seem that significant at first, there are two very interesting points to be made:

1) Valve’s Managing Director, Gabe Newell, once said the following about PlayStation 3:

“The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels, I think it’s really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted”

“I’d say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a do over. Just say, ‘This was a horrible disaster and we’re sorry and we’re going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it’”

“We’re not PS3 developers – we’re doing PC and 360 like with Orange Box.”

2) Valve is probably the last major 3rd party developer not be involved with developing software for PlayStation 3. Read more

My, my do we have an interesting episode for you this week. Many people were wondering how FirstPlay would top themselves after that impressive collection of minis given away in the last month, but it seems that they’ve been working hard and have managed to include a Backbreaker Demo exclusive to this episode of FirstPlay – that’s right, you won’t find it anywhere else!

Also in your hands in this week’s episode is a review of International Cricket 2010 as well as quite possibly the best PSP game of all time Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. If that isn’t enough for you though, there is a preview of the upcoming strategy game R.U.S.E., which I for one am interested to see as strategy games are known to have very fiddly controls on consoles. Oh, and how could I forget, FirstPlay have also managed to get an exclusive interview with Media Molecule and their role in the development of LittleBigPlanet 2, which should be an interesting view too.

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The forthcoming motion controller for PS3, PlayStation Move, has been officially dated and priced by Sony. Set for release on September 15th in Europe, PlayStation Move will come in several varieties:

These are the RRPs for Move so expect some significant discounting online when the likes of Amazon and Play.com cut their margins to secure pre-orders. There may also be a bundle featuring the main Move controller as well as the add-on ‘navigation’ controller but we’ll have to wait for more details before we can confirm this. In an unusual but welcome move (no pun intented, honestly), PlayStation Move will be released in Europe before North America and Japan, both of whom will have to wait until 19th September.

The new premium version of the PSN has been revealed at E3 and will known as ‘PlayStation Plus’. The new service will be launching on 29th June and will be preceded by a new firmware update to 3.4, which is rumoured to also contain cross-game chat – though that’s not certain at this point.

PlayStation Plus will cost you £39.99 for a year’s subscription and according to the official blog will come with the following features:

Games:
As a member you can expect to get your hands on at least four games a month at no extra charge.  Each month there will be a selection of one PSN game, two minis and one PS one classics available on PlayStation Store for you to download. You also get premium avatars and dynamic themes each month, many of which are exclusive to members. 

Full Game Trial:  
This premium feature gives you the chance to try PSN and Blu-ray disc titles before you buy them in a whole new way.  We are not talking normal demos of selected parts of a game here.  With Full Game Trial, you can download the full game and play it as if you owned it for approximately one hour, depending on the game, before you decide if you want to buy it or not. So you can check out the online modes, play against friends or anything else you’d normally do with a game. 

Automatic Download:
You can set your PS3 to automatically receive the latest game updates for all the games you play, PS3 system software updates and even have game demos sent directly to your PS3 without lifting a finger. Just set the time you want to receive them and your PS3 will automatically wake up and download everything, ready for when you next want to play. No more waiting to play your favourite game because there is a new patch or having to remember when the latest system software is launching, let your PS3 do the work.

Sony have also suggested that members of PlayStation Plus will also be able to get early access to demos and betas in a similar way to Xbox Live Gold customers. Even better, if you sign up before August 3rd you’ll get a free downloadable copy of LittleBigPlanet!

Not only did E3 get us a brand new trailer for Gran Turismo, we also were finally given the release date for Gran Turismo 5 – it’s coming on November 2nd 2010, with a regular and a limited ‘Collector’s Edition’ version. It’s also been confirmed that Gran Turismo 5 will contain the Top Gear ‘Test Track’  as well as a full day and night cycle. Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated racing game of all time, Gran Turismo 5 looks like it may just live up to the enormous amount of hype surrounding the game. Have a look at the brand new trailer below and see what you think:

Cole is back and this time he has new powers and a new city to play with! PS3-exclusive InFamous 2 is the sequel to the open-world super-powered original InFamous, released back in May last year. The new sequel, InFamous 2, will be set in a city called New Marais which is supposed to be a loose recreation of New Orleans. Cole will have a new set of ice powers to take out the villains and freeze water so he can walk over it. Sound exciting? Check out the trailer below:

PlayStation Home is receiving a big update at E3 this week and the first major part of the update is a new Home Square and new open-air Shopping Mall! Stay tuned for more updates as they come but check out the screenshots below to see what the new look is all about:

So, Criterion have finally revealed the game that they have been working on for the best part of a year now, we all knew it was Need For Speed, but we didn’t have a clue about the gameplay. Yesterday, at EA’s E3 Press Conference, we finally got a look at the uncertain future of the series.

It turns out that Criterion have tried to take the game back to its roots, right when it was first released on 3DO. What they appear to be saying is that this one will be open world again, with (like the name suggests) pursuits from cops taking centre stage. Don’t think you can just be the bad guys though, if you want to be a cop, then by all means go for it and take down those robbers! Read more