Welcome to another instalment in our weekly news digest where the team at PSU Towers picks our favourite slices of gaming gossip from the past seven days, before proceeding to offer our two cents on each story for good measure.
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Sony targeting younger gamers with PS3 in 2012
Sony said this week that it’s looking to switch gears in terms of the target demographic for PS3 next year, wanting to focus on families and younger gamers. I’m sure we all have an opinion on this one way or another, though Sony Europe big cheese Jim Ryan did move to assure core gamers that they won’t be neglected in this new push. I myself am experiencing flashbacks to the Wii, which Nintendo attempted to flog to an assortment of non-gamers, including youngsters, grannies and soccer moms. Of course, they also said the hardcore market wouldn’t be left in the dark, but their output in this area has fluctuated between great (Super Mario Galaxy) and abysmal (Wii Music anyone?) in the five or so years Wii has been on the market. Simply put, the hardcore offerings, while great, were just too infrequent. Sony is obviously going to champion Move in its efforts to entice the younger market, and if you look at PS2 titles like SingStar have obvious pulling power in this respect, something which I’m sure they’ll replicate here. However, they also did a bang up job of catering to core gamers at the same time last-gen, so I don’t think PS3 is in any danger of shunning its most loyal followers. At the very least, the line-up for next year is looking pretty solid.
Trine 2 PS3 release date revealed
The original Trine proved one of the standout hits on PlayStation Network, fusing brain-aching physics-based puzzles with solid combat and platforming segments. As such, the sequel has been on our radar for some time, perhaps too long, with the game spending a lot of time in the oven. Finally though it seems it’s baked to perfection, with developer Frozenbyte confirming this week that Trine 2 will be released in the U.S. on PSN this December 20. Slightly later than the PC version, but still in time for the holidays. The only downer is that European gamers are going to have to sit twiddling their thumbs for a while longer, as the game is still awaiting a release date for that territory. Still, for everyone else, this is one PSN game you should absolutely add to your download queue.
Fumito Ueda still working on The Last Guardian
Last week’s rumor that Team ICO big wig Fumito Ueda had jumped ship Sony certainly created a few waves around the internet gaming community. And, while the status of his employment at the electronics giant still remains ambiguous, Ueda-san confirmed this week that he is definitely still working on his upcoming masterpiece The Last Guardian, which should be with us next year. Unfortunately, this could mean that the rumor still stands: after all, it also claimed Ueda was finishing the Last Guardian in a freelance capacity despite jumping ship. However, given the arduous development cycle the game is currently enduring, it’s still comforting to know that the project is in the safe hands of its creator, and not outsourced to any old Tom, Dick or Harry.
PS3 issues will not be fixed in next patch, says Bethesda
PS3 Skyrim players have had reason to be more than a little cheesed off with Bethesda following the game’s launch last month. Aside from the usual bugs that you’d expect from a game of Skyrim’s calibre – such as slowdown and frame rate issues – PS3 owners have also been reporting numerous game crashes. In particular, these issues were noted to occur when save files reached 6MB in size. Problematically, a recent patch introduced yet more frequent crashes, and an upcoming update will apparently not offer a remedy for the situation either. So, it looks like PS3 users are going to have to wait a little longer to get their fix (quite literally), which means potentially a lot more frustrating Skyrim play sessions. Not exactly the triple-AAA treat PS3 owners were hoping for.
Sledgehammer hiring for new Call of Duty?
Tradition dictates that next year’s Call of Duty title will be handled by the chaps at Treyarch, who struck gold in 2010 with Cold War-era blaster Black Ops. However, one thing that does seem certain is that Sledgehammer, co-developer of this year’s Modern Warfare 3, is gearing up for another Call of Duty title. That’s at least according to a job ad posted by the firm, calling for new blood to help shape Call of Duty’s multiplayer component. Whether or not this pertains to next year’s game remains unknown, but it’s most likely for 2013; Treyarch would have surely already started beavering away on next year’s game not long after Black Ops shipped.
Here at the top-selling PSN games for November
Sony’s continuing to churn out its ‘best-selling PSN games’ list for each month, with November’s results turning up some good news for the chaps at Sucker Punch. Yep, InFamous 2 standalone expansion, the vampire-themed Festival of Blood, has topped the charts, beating out the likes of Saints Row 2 (which was a free download for all PS3 owners of Saints Row: The Third) and Payday: The Heist. A well-deserved pat on the back for Sucker Punch.
Rumor: Dead Rising 3 set in California
Capcom appears to be gearing up for third slice of zombie-mashing pie, with rumors this week pointing to the development of Dead Rising 3. Originally we assumed photo-journalist Frank West would be taking the helm after Capcom posted on the game’s official Facebook page that West – who’s covered wars, dontcha know – would be packing his bags for a new adventure. However, Siliconera later reported from an inside source that a third game will instead star a chap named Rick and would be set in a fictional town in sunny California. The setting sounds promising; blue skies, sun-baked beaches, psychopaths and of course hordes of shambling undead. That’s about all we know at the moment, but given the fact Capcom never ruled out a possible third game, it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine they’re working on a new game – especially after they squeezed a lot of juice out of Dead Rising 2.
The best of the rest….
So it turns out the Vita WILL support multiple PSN accounts
Shepard’s combat to be more dynamic in Mass Effect 3
Jaffe: Would rather not do online pass for Twisted Metal
THQ set to reveal ‘exciting new game’ this month