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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PSN users warned not to make multiple password reset requests
After more than three weeks downtime, Sony has finally got to the nitty gritty of phasing PlayStation Network back online, and with it, some extra security measures. However, one of the most important aspects is the mandatory reset of all users’ passwords, and it’s here than a few hiccups have raised their heads. Specifically, some customers are reporting that the reset confirmation email hasn’t been received, a problem that Sony has attributed to the sheer magnitude of password requests in wake of PSN’s partial restoration. Understandable, obviously. However, the electronics giant has warned users not to send off multiple email requests and just remain patient – easier said than done for some, evidently. I’m probably one of the few people who weren’t really bothered by the PSN’s downtime, being that I’m not much of an online gamer in the least. Nonetheless, I’m quite partial to a spot of Tekken 6 or Resident Evil 5 now and then, so I’ll be looking to get back online in the next few days. As such, this warning has been most helpful, as I’m exactly the type of bloke to get impatient and fire off multiple requests. While I’m at it, I hope the rest of you have had a relatively trouble-free experience in restoring your PS3 online.
PSP God of War games heading to PS3?
I always view this kind of move as a double-edged sword kind of affair. On the plus side, anyone who hasn’t snapped up a PSP yet (yours truly included) will finally be able to get their mitts on what are unequivocally one of the platform’s finest highlights to date – plus, Kratos fans will finally have all his blood-spraying antics all in one place. However, on the flips side, it’s a bit of a poke in the eye to PSP owners who had believed they were enjoying some scrumptious exclusives all this time, only to have them wrapped up in one shiny, HD package a few years later. Still, with PSP on its way out thanks to Next-Generation Portable (NGP), I suppose Sony would want to capitalize on some of its finest distractions offering them on a plate to PlayStation 3 owners – as well as milk a little more cash out of them while they’re at it. Let’s face it, there’s been countless PSP games that have made the transition to Sony’s home platforms over the years, including PS2 ports of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and Silent Hill: Origins among others.
Sony Online Entertainment back up and running
PSN is slowly starting to fire up again across the globe, with millions of punters already indulging in what no doubt will be copious amounts of contention-filled multiplayer antics for the next few days. SOE is the latest service to join the ranks of PSN’s restoration process, so punters will now be able to get back into the saddle on the likes of DC Universe Online and Everquest. So far things seem to be going pretty smoothly for Sony in regards to restoring PSN, so let’s hope this isn’t the only update on the situation we hear in the coming days and weeks. Keep it up, boys.
All your regional PSN ‘Welcome Back’ information in one place
Sony’s gradually in the process of turning PSN back online over the next few weeks, and as a means of compensation, it’s offering customers a couple of freebies to make up for the downtime. Specifically, users will be able to pick two free games from a list of (mostly) triple-A goodies, such as inFamous, LittleBigPlanet, Killzone: Liberation and ModNation Racers. In addition, it is also offering punters 30 days of free PS+ subscription, while those of you who are already signed up will get 60 days of free membership. As far as ‘we’re sorry’ packages go, you could do a lot worse. There’s been a lot of backlash about the games on offer (as seen in our article here), as a lot of folk apparently own many of the games or are simply not interested in them. Speaking for myself though, I don’t own any of them at all, so this is one offer I’ll be only too happy to snap up – I’m thinking inFamous and perhaps WipEout or LittleBigPlanet. Still, it’s a bit of a kick in the teeth for those who can’t take advantage of the offer, though I’m sure the notion of bagging 30 days of free PS+ content will be more than enough to suffice. Or perhaps it won’t – let us know your views in the comments section below.
inFamous 2 dated for Europe, gets new bundles
European punters have been eagerly awaiting news as to when they can get their hands on Cole McGrath’s electricity-charged sequel for some time now. Fortunately, Sony not only confirmed a June 8 release (June 10 in the UK and Ireland) for the game this week, but also lifted the lid on a fresh batch of bundles to celebrate Cole’s return. Specifically, there’s two DualShock packs up for grabs (each one a different colour, representing ‘good’ and ‘evil’) to attract current PS3 owners, while new adopters are encouraged to dip their toes in Sucker Punch’s sprawling sandbox with a meaty 320GB PS3 inFamous 2 bundle. Anyone here tempted? Let us know in the comments section below. As for the game itself, well, it’s looking nothing short of a sumptuous affair, and combined with Sony’s offer of the original game free as compensation for PSN’s downtime, there’s literally no excuse for newcomers not to see what all the fuss is about. Get in there.
Modern Warfare 3 official announcement coming next week
I imagine Activision bigwigs must be pretty miffed by now. After all, Modern Warfare 3 is unequivocally their biggest outing this year, and thanks to some sneaky Internet sorts, has already been literally blown wipe open for our consumption. Not quite the mammoth reveal they were hoping for, eh? Still, officially, the game has yet to receive a formal info blowout, but that all looks set to change next week, with the publishing giant apparently poised to lift the lid on the military shooter in all its glory. This won’t be a 30-second teaser trailer affair either; we’re talking full-on reveal. I’ve waffled on about how much of a Modern Warfare fan I am many times in these weekly retrospectives, and to say I’m pumped is something of an understatement. Still, I hope Activision has managed to entice Billy Murray (Captain Price) and Craig Fairbrass (Gaz/Ghost) back to the fray to deliver some more memorable Brit colloquial banter, though in Fairbrass’ case I hope whoever he is voicing will manage to stay alive this time around. In addition, with Battlefield 3 looking to pluck CoD’s FPS crown for itself this holiday season, I’m looking forward to seeing how Infinity Ward and co are going to take things to the next level.
Xperia PLAY coming to U.S. on May 26
Sony’s highly publicised ‘PlayStation Phone’ has been doing the rounds in the UK, Canada and mainland Europe since April 1, though for reasons unknown has taken a while to gear up for its North American debut. Still, our friends across the pond don’t have much longer to wait, as it was announced Wednesday that the device would be arriving in the U.S. next week – May 26, to be precise. Reaction to Xperia PLAY has been a little patchy from what I’ve read around the net, though you’ll be able to read our verdict soon enough after our UK wordsmith Steven Williamson puts the portable through its paces in his review. One thing’s for sure though; Sony will need to offer a little more bang for your buck in terms of software for people to really take notice, with initial sales of PSOne games proving sluggish at best. Still, it’s only just breaking into the market, so there’s plenty of time for the device to prove itself.
Elder Scrolls V to have ‘unlimited number of Dragons’
I’m currently on my fourth play through of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, quickly approaching the 200 hour milestone. To this day it remains one of my all-time favourite titles, though one thing was missing that I would have loved to have seen – dragons. Yep, those scaly beasts are typically part and parcel of any fantasy romp, and they were conspicuously absent from the 2006 monster RPG, much to my dismay. Apparently though, Bethesda’s aware that many fans were gutted they didn’t show up in Oblivion, and have not only included them in Skyrim, but an ‘unlimited’ supply of the fire-breathers to boot. So, not only does it seem like we’ll be battling against the buggers in some epic, pre-determined scraps, but the blighters will also show up whenever they fancy some roast, dragonborne chops. While we haven’t seen too much of their appearances in Skyrim as of yet, early teases suggest they’ll be one of the highlights of the game’s combat, and I for one can’t wait to go sword to claw with the beasts. Bring it on.
Rocksteady: Arkham City’s main story to last 25 hours
The Caped Crusader’s forthcoming citywide extravaganza has had gums flapping for some time now, and rightly so – Arkham City’s shaping up to be one hell of a sequel to the stonking Arkham Asylum. Furthermore, developer Rocksteady seems to be cramming a copious amount of content into the superhero sequel, with initial reports of an eight-hour campaign thrown out the window and replaced by a whopping 25 hour marathon. If that wasn’t enough, this number doesn’t include the non-essential side quests on offer, which elongate the experience by an additional 15 hours – that’s a meaty 40 hours in total. Frankly, this sounds a spot on length to me; greater than your average adventure or modern-day FPS, but so much that it’ll suck up months of your life ala Elder Scrolls.
Sony denies PSN password reset page hacking
Blimin’ heck, thank Lord for that. Just as it seemed Sony was finally getting PSN back on its feet after the atrocious hacking affair of April 19, reports started cropping up that its password reset page was compromised by yet more cyber attackers. Apparently, the exploit allowed anyone to change your PSN password by using your account log-in details. Fortunately, while an exploit was indeed present within the URL, it wasn’t a result of any tampering with the system by outside individuals. What’s more, Sony’s fixed the issue, allowing everything to (hopefully) return to normal. The last thing the hardware giant needs is more unscrupulous sorts dabbling in their servers; the cost of PSN’s downtime has yet to be put down in numbers, but the affair must have cost an exorbitant amount of dosh, and anymore issues would surely throw the whole corporation into turmoil. Customer relations have already been strained as a result of the crisis, so heaven only knows what more complications would do for Sony’s relationship with the buying public. Fingers crossed this minor hiccup is the last of them.
Japan: Hardware sales down, PSP continues to beat 3DS
Hardware sales in the Land of the Rising Sun may be in decline as of late, but that hasn’t stopped PSP from trouncing the competition all the same. Yep, Sony’s aging slab is still proving a colossal hit with Japan’s buying public, stealing much of the limelight away from Nintendo’s shiny new 3DS. In fact, 3DS seems to be struggling to gain momentum again in the region following its launch in February – better get Zelda: Ocarina of Time out sharpish, eh Ninty? Of course, with PSP being home to Monster Hunter, it was inevitable that the portable would continue to sell like hot cakes in its home territory even if it’s on its way out with the arrival of Next-Generation Portable (NGP). What baffles me is that western gamers just don’t seem to see the quality that’s right in front of them; PSP sales have been tapering off for the past few years there, and it’s quite mindboggling considering the amount of stonking software available. This combined with the cheaper price the device is going for these days should ensure there’s never been a better time to pick up a PSP.
Infinity Ward pledges strong post-launch support for Modern Warfare 3
For Joe Public, Modern Warfare 2 was the best thing since sliced bread, but all the same, it didn’t stop gamers from being pretty miffed with Infinity Ward’s post-launch ‘support’ for the military shooter. Specifically, the FPS was plagued by a number of conspicuous flaws including Trophy bugs, failed party invites and a host of online exploits. PS3 owners were understandably fed up of all the problems, and it wasn’t until February 2011 that Infinity Ward finally woke up and rolled out a patch to remedy the issue – too little too late, some would say. Still, with Modern Warfare 3 set to be deployed in November this year, the developer has pledged that we won’t see a repeat performance of MW2’s post-release failings, with ample patches planned as and when necessary.
PlayStation Store returning May 24
Sony’s restoration plans for PSN seem to be going fairly swimmingly thus far, though one crucial element continues to remain conspicuous by its absence – PlayStation Store. Fortunately, Sony looks set to address this situation very shortly, with a leaked internal memo indicating the PS Store will return – complete with two updates per week for the next fortnight – on May 24. Furthermore, Sony says it’ll be up to date with its backlog once the store’s restoration is complete in early June, whereby it’ll resume its single weekly updates. This can’t come soon enough frankly, as there’s been a heap of content put on the backburner as a result of the PSN’s three-week downtime, not to mention the fact many developers have been losing ample dough due to the hacking fiasco.
BioWare hiring for Dragon Age III
Maybe my aging brain is starting to run out of steam, but back when I was a teenager games seemed to take their sweet time to arrive – I can recall waiting around two years for the next entry in a major IP such as Resident Evil. These days though, everything seems to be happening on an almost annual affair. Take Dragon Age for example; this week it emerged that BioWare is working on a third game in the series, despite the fact Dragon Age II has barely been on store shelves for two and a half months. Obviously the franchise has been a massive success for them, though considering the backlash fans gave them over the apparent dumbing down rush job of DA II, I would have thought they’d take some time off to give the next entry a good think over before giving it the green light. Let’s just hope it’s not a rush job and the developers see fit to spice things up a little – after all, I’ve no doubt Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will raise the bar significantly for console RPGs, so Dragon Age III better be something special.
Uncharted NGP set before original game, will ‘most likely’ feature interactivity with Uncharted 3
Sony’s Next-Generation Portable is looking mighty promising from what we know so far, and unsurprisingly, Uncharted is shaping up to be one of the most polished games in the pipeline. I can’t speak for everyone, but for me, it’s THE game I’d buy an NGP for. Details have been pretty sketchy since its initial unveiling in January, though a few more tidbits have trickled online this week thanks to Naughty Dog bigwig Christophe Balestra. After initially getting his wires crossed over the game’s timeframe in relation to the console versions, Balestra confirmed that Nate’s portable adventure will be set before the original game – but that’s not the juiciest bit. Best of all, he said it will ‘most likely’ feature some form of interactivity with the forthcoming PlayStation 3 outing Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. No doubt we’ll get more info on the game at E3, so with any luck we’ll be able to bring you some hands-on impressions in early June. And yes, that was a not-so-subtle confirmation that PSU will be out in full force at the Los Angeles-based shindig. Happy days.
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One release date and pre-order incentives detailed
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One looks set to be the PS3’s premier platform outing for this year, and with the game confirmed for an October release, we won’t have to wait too long to get our mitts on the dynamic duo’s much-anticipated co-op romp. Not only that, but Sony’s rolled out a heap of meaty pre-order incentives to further encourage gamers to plonk down their cash for the sequel on day one by teaming up with U.S. retail giants including Amazon and GameStop. Specifically, each retailer will be offering an exclusive character to reward customers who pre-order the title, though it’s a pity there’s no way to bag all four on launch. Still, with five months until release, you should have plenty of time to make up your mind as to what character tickles your fancy. Pick wisely, eh?