PlayStation News, Articles and Information for the UK and Europe

The King of Online Shooters, Modern Warfare 2, is still holding strong at the number one spot this week, an incredible 8 months after its initial release. Despite claims that Call of Duty: Black Ops has received higher numbers of pre-orders than Modern Warfare 2 did at this stage before release, it seems hard to believe that Black Ops outsell Modern Warfare 2 upon release but we’ll know for sure later in the year.

Another smash hit success, Red Dead Redemption, holds on tightly at number two, followed by Sony’s exclusive behemoth action adventure God of War 3. A new entry this week is Toy Story 3, which enters the charts at number eight following the movie’s recent release at UK cinemas.

Gran Turismo 5 re-enters the Top 10 for the first time in over a month – expect this one to lurk around for a while before shooting to the top spot in the week in November. If you thought God of War 3 was successful, just wait until Gran Turismo 5 is released! Gamers and non-gamers alike have been eagerly waiting for Gran Turismo 5 for several years now and if the game lives up to expectations it could well be the most successful PS3 exclusive so far. Read more

Alice: Madness Returns is the forthcoming sequel to American McGee’s Alice, which was released on PC almost ten years ago!

Alice: Madness Returns follows the Alice on her latest adventure in Wonderland, featuring the same dark, twisted style as the first game but with modern hi-def graphics. The game is due for release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 next year, and you can see the first teaser trailer below:

World Rally Championship, the official game of the motorsport event of the same name, is a forthcoming rally game developed by Black Bean Games. It’s due out in October 2010, a few weeks before Gran Turismo 5, so if your inner speed demon is getting over-excited about Gran Turismo, World Rally Championship could be the perfect distraction until GT is released into the wild.

Features of World Rally Championship include:

• The World of WRC. The official locations, the official cars, the official drivers and co-drivers. Everything is designed to give the player the sensation of taking part in the real championship as they race against their heroes.
• Huge career mode creates ultimate satisfaction when the player wins the championship after a long and challenging road to the top!
• Unique offline and online game modes
• 13 different locations around the world
• Realistic physics model
• Advanced car tuning that allows players to find the best settings for every single stage
• Breathtaking graphics for drivers, co-drivers, cars, tracks and environments
• Visually stunning car damage effects
• Full 3D cockpit and dashboards
• Much more to come…

If you’re interested in the trailer you can see it below: Read more

My first steps into the world of gaming were at the age of about 10. The most influential game in my gaming career has to be Jurassic Park operation genesis. It was released on PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC, and even today I plug in my dusty PlayStation 2 and play the game that got it all started.

Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis is a last gen game that was revolutionary at the time, though took influence from Zoo Tycoon and Rollercoaster Tycoon, both of which I enjoyed playing in the past. However, Jurassic Park blows these out of the water. The game allows a vast amount of customisation; you decide the shape of your island, the position of mountains, rivers and trees. Read more

This week’s PSN Store update is fairly light on content yet again, with little to get too excited about. There are a few new special offers that might be worth checking out and some minor DLC updates but the main feature of interest for many will be the Kane and Lynch 2 demo. If you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber you will already have been given early access to this a couple of days ago but for everyone else the demo makes its debut today.

There are no new PS One Classics on the store yet again this week, which is a real shame. SCEE will need to produce some bigger updates over the next few weeks if they are to keep the fans happy – we had so many fantastic updates earlier in the year that many fans have come to expect this level of quality and quantity each week. See this week’s list below: Read more

Today EA announced a new open-world role-playing game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, being developed by 38 Studios (formerly Big Huge Games). Reckoning will launch in fall 2011 on PlayStation 3 with a cinematic and website debuting on the 22nd July this year.

Reckoning is an epic, open-world role-playing game set in Amalur, a mysterious and magical new fantasy world created by New York Times best-selling author R. A. Salvatore. Discussing the game, Jen MacLean, CEO of 38 Studios, said:

“Reckoning is a great representation of how a team of incredibly talented and creative people with expertise in different areas can come together and complement each other so well. We are thrilled to be developing an open-world RPG under the leadership of one of the greatest RPG designers in the industry, with creative direction by one of the most iconic artists of our time, set in a rich universe imagined by one of the top fantasy genre authors in the world.

We can’t wait to share the first details of this universe we have been so dedicated to building over the past few years”

EA describe Reckoning as a “single player RPG that brings a new level of intense action combat to the genre.”

Ken Rolston is in charge of the project, having previously lead the design of Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The game was previously called “Project Mercury.” Whilst little details are known about Reckoning, the trailer launching this Thursday should reveal some details, likewise with the Press Briefing being held shortly.

So, RPG fans have to wait at least another year but will it be worth it? As always, look to PlayStation Future for all of the latest news on the game. Will Ken Rolston’s development lead make it as successful as the Elder Scrolls franchise?

In this week’s episode, you’ll be delighted to know that FirstPlay have gone preview mad, with not one, not two, but three whole previews to watch. First up is Dead Rising 2, an undead survival horror game set in a city (named Fortune City) much like Las Vegas; then there’s Mafia II with an exclusive developer interview to compliment it; and finally Vanquish a new shooter filled with lots of robots.

In the screenshot galleries are the latest shots of the likes of Final Fantasy XIV (a new online instalment to the series), FIFA 11 (if you don’t know what this is, shame on you…), Motorstorm: Apocalypse (the offroad racer is back with a vengeance) and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (currently being developed by the Burnout series team at Criterion Games).

Read more

Forthcoming PSN flight game Top Gun, based on the 80s movie of the same name, has just been given its worldwide premier aboard a US Navy vessel, the USS Iwo Jima. The ship was docked in New York harbour, where Navy personnel and visiting civilians were offered a first glimpse of the new game.

Special PS3 kiosks featuring Top Gun were set up inside the ship, allowing the 2,800 crew members aboard the ship to try out the game for themselves. If that wasn’t enough of a flight fix for them, the crew was also treated to a screening of the movie too.

Top Gun game will feature three single player and five multiplayer modes, including:

• Flight School: Players enroll at the Top Gun academy as Maverick where they are trained to handle the breakneck speeds created by the afterburner and the tunnel vision produced by high G-force maneuvers.
• Campaign Mode: Players join the fight above the Indian Ocean for 11 total missions across different times of day.
• Horde Mode: Solo players get to test their flight combat abilities as they take down endless waves of enemies of increasing difficulty. Top scores will appear on leader boards. “No points for second place” as they say…
• Online Multiplayer:Players can join the US Navy or the Soviet air forces and take on opponents in five different modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Top Gun (choose your wingman and compete against enemy pairs), Bombing Run (defend and attack mobile bases) and Capture the Flag.

Top Gun is coming to PSN this summer.

PLATFORM: Sony PlayStation, PC,  PlayStation Network

RELEASE DATE: 27th October 1999 (PSOne), 4th February 2010 (PSN)

RATING: 11+ (ELSPA: PSOne), 16 (PEGI: PSN)

DEVELOPER: Squaresoft (PSOne), Square-Enix (PSN)

PUBLISHER: Square Europe (PSOne), Square-Enix (PSN)

It’s been nearly eleven years since this masterpiece was released on the original Sony PlayStation. After many calls for Sony and Square-Enix to get it on the store, we’ve finally got a version compatible with our PS3s and PSPs. But, like I said, it’s been nearly eleven years since it was released; is this game still as good as it was last decade? All I can say is, yes.

Read more

PLATFORM: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Naughty Bear didn’t get the same head start on publicity as other recent games such as Demon’s Souls and Red Dead Redemption, which both got a lot of hype pre-release, although it’s bear-based movie spoofs are darkly funny (all of which can be found on their website). But does it have the potential to be remembered in the future? Read on to find out…

Read more