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.
See below for the past week’s top stories.
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The Sly Collection Teases Sly Cooper 4
The more we think about it, the more it makes sense. You sneaky buggers, Sucker Punch. Repackage all three Sly Cooper titles in sumptuous HD for the PlayStation 3, throw in some obligatory Trophy and PlayStation Move support, get it on shelves in time for Christmas and bob’s your uncle – the perfect way to wet punter’s appetites while the company works on an all-new fourth instalment. And what better way than to tease fans? Include a trailer for Sly 4 after gamers have slogged through all three PS2 classics and obtained those sacred Platinum Trophies. Should have seen it coming. Indeed, while Sucker Punch has yet to formally announce development of Sly Cooper 4, the proof is pretty much in the pudding, or rather, in the form of a teaser trailer tucked hidden away in The Sly Collection now doing the rounds on YouTube thanks to North American PS3 owners. We’d love to see another classic PS2 franchise make the transition to Sony’s latest box of tricks, so here’s hoping Sucker Punch officially let the cat out of the bag sharpish just to put our minds at rest. Expect a reveal before Christmas we reckon.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Tops UK Charts
Frankly, it would have been a bigger story if we were reporting on the fact Black Ops didn’t make the top spot – but it did, and we don’t think anyone would have expected otherwise. In addition to eclipsing the competition in terms of chart position, Black Ops also shattered sales records, with Chart-Track confirming the Cold War-era shooter has shifted two million copies since its launch last Tuesday – no mean feat we’ll think you’ll agree. Indeed, as you can see from our review, the Treyarch-developed shooter may have its fair share of flaws, but overall, fundamentally it’s still a bloody good FPS with a cracking campaign and mammoth multiplayer component that is sure to keep you hooked well in to 2011. We doubt Call of Duty detractors are going to be swayed by it, but fans of the series and FPS aficionados’ in general would do well to snap it up – the Zombie mode in particular is worth the price of admission alone, just for the chance to pop some undead heads as a gun-toting JFK. We’re just pondering on how long it’ll take the chaps over on the Alan Titchmarsh Show to latch on to that bit of controversy for a fully blown moaning session like they did with Modern Warfare 2 earlier this year.
ICO has inspired Naughty Dog’s latest game
This piqued our interest for two reasons. One, ICO, despite its immense critical praise, didn’t exactly set the charts alight upon release, so anything that keeps the game in the public consciousness ahead of its HD rebirth as part of the sumptuous-looking Team ICO Collection can only be a good thing. Plus, when it’s extolled by the likes of Naughty Dog, you can garauntee folk will sit up and take notice. Secondly – and perhaps most interesting of all – is the fact ICO is apparently a big inspiration for Naughty Dog’s current in-development project, described by studio head Evan Wells as a ‘linear, narrative-driven experience.’ Now, we don’t want to jump the gun, but this just screams Uncharted 3. In fact, aside from a new IP, we couldn’t honestly think of anything else it could be other than another instalment in Nathan Drake’s globe-trotting, treasure-seeking exploits. And that makes us giddy as a schoolgirl. We know that voice actor Nolan North’s already mentioned that he’s working on a sequel to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, he’s labelled a follow-up as “common sense,” and Naughty Dog has also said that last year’s effort didn’t mark the end of Drake’s adventures. Throw all that in the pot, let it stew a bit, and the only logical concoction is an Uncharted 3 reveal in the very near future. Frankly, we’re not sure how many more teasers we can get until an outright confirmation comes knocking on our door – the writing has been on the wall for almost a year. We’re hoping that we’ll get something at the Spike VGA’s (after all, Uncharted 2 made its worldwide debut there two years ago), but we’ll just have to wait and see.
Ubisoft says ‘something around Assassin’s [Creed]’ will hit in 2011
This came as something of a surprise given recent rumblings from Ubisoft Montreal that Assassin’s Creed was supposedly taking something of a breather next year, though given the scores that Brotherhood’s been raking up this week, it makes sense Ubisoft would want to capitalize on the franchise as much as possible. We’re not expecting Assassin’s Creed III, though; that’s probably not going to show up until 2012. However, the prospect of another PSP game or console spin-off is entirely conceivable, and given how much we utterly loved AC: Brotherhood, we’d gladly welcome more time-travelling, stealth-based antics from our friendly neighbourhood assassins. Still, there’s always the prospect of DLC for Brotherhood to consider, so we may not be getting an all-new game, but perhaps a substantial post-launch quest for Ezio’s critically acclaimed adventure. Either way, we should find out what Ubi has up its sleeves come early 2011.
Prince of Persia Trilogy HD coming to PSN, Sands of Time out now
Phew, that’s a relief. For a moment there, we thought that us PAL plebs were actually going to get one up on our friends across the pond. Frankly though, the notion that the Prince of Persia Trilogy HD wouldn’t be making it to North America never rang true to us chaps at PSU Towers, and fortunately, being the perspicacious chaps we are, Sony America confirmed this week that this was never the intention – it’s headed to PSN. In fact, by the time you clap eyes on this article, the first entry – Sands of Time – would have been up for grabs via Sony’s online service for a good few days. If you haven’t got it already, we seriously recommend parting with the cash and checking it out, as you won’t be disappointed. Indeed, regardless of what you may have thought of the Prince’s most recent endeavours (which to be fair, have been somewhat hit and miss), this classic trilogy ranks among the cream of the crop of platform games, and you’d be missing out on some quality PS2-era gaming if you decided to pass them up.
Arkham City, new BioWare title confirmed for VGAs
As excited we are for Arkham City, we’ll admit feeling left ever so slightly miffed by the confirmation that one of the VGA bombshells would be a world exclusive look at Batman’s latest escapades. After all, we’ve already been privy to screenshots and info over the past couple of months, and while it’s looking fantastic and we obviously want to know more, we were rather hoping for something previously unannounced to show up in its place and knock our socks off. Nonetheless, Arkham Asylum was utterly brilliant, and we’re just as eager to get our mitts on the follow-up. As for the BioWare title, rumor has it that it’s either Mass Effect 3 or a multiplayer spin-off game set on earth, which is about as triple-A as you can get nowadays. We’ll have to wait until December 11 to get the full scoop, but we’re already foaming at the mouth uncontrollably like a rabid dog in anticipation.
Rumor: PSP2 dev kit photos emerge
PSP2 the worst kept secret in Sony history? Yep, near enough. Still, taking a gander at these images we can’t help but feel slightly amused by the fact it reminded us of clapping eyes on some dodgy photo of the Loch Ness Monster or some elaborate UFO hoax. You know, the type of black & white, near indiscernible shots that folk used to take back in the 1950s and flog to the local rag in an effort to make a quick buck. Joking aside, however, this only further cements the belief that a successor to Sony’s slab is all but a reality, and there’s no doubt in our mind that we can expect an announcement at E3 2011 – or perhaps even sooner if we’re lucky. Yes, the shots are grainy at best, but VG247 have delivered the goods on more than one occasion; specifically, they outed the existence of the Team ICO Collection months ahead of its formal reveal at TGS (in a decidedly idiosyncratic news post too, we might add), so we have every reason to keep the faith. Watch this space, folks, it’s going to get interesting over the next few months.
Rumor: Dreamcast Collection hitting PS3, 360?
We tend to refrain from posting rumors as much as possible, but in the case of those that originate from GameStop, we’re willing to make an exception given the fact the U.S. retail giant has come up trumps in the past for outing Collector’s Editions and numerous other bundle-related goodies. In this case, it’s a Dreamcast Collection for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, which may or may not be a compilation of existing PSN/XBL re-releases, namely Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi and the forthcoming Space Channel 5 and Sega Bass Fishing. The fact it will supposedly release in February 2011 ties in neatly with the digital re-release of the latter two. However, we’re hoping against hope that this may turn out to be something new altogether, possibly a bundle of all-new releases. If that’s the case, then we at PSU Towers have our fair share of DC classics we’d like to see make the cut, including the likes of Shenmue, Shenmue II, House of the Dead II, Jet Set Radio, Metropolis Street Racer and Soul Calibur but to name a few. Still, a bundle of existing titles wouldn’t go a miss either – we just hope that SEGA has plans to roll out more DC games for Sony and Microsoft’s online services over the next 12 months.
Rising dev costs may force Sony and Microsoft to team up, says Reeves
The impact of rising development costs on our industry has been nothing short of profound – this much cannot be argued. Indeed, the days when hardware manufacturers would offer an exorbitant chunk of dough in exchange for console exclusivity of the biggest names in videogames has become all but a distant memory; after all, if you had told us 10, or even five years ago that the likes of Tekken or Final Fantasy would end up on a Sony rival platform, you’d have us chuckling all the way to the bank and back. These days, it’s about the only option available. Of course, there’s downloadable content to consider – Capcom’s already snuggled up with Microsoft on that front with Dead Rising 2 – but overall, third-party exclusives are largely a thing of the past. However, the notion of a unified console market is a tough pill to swallow at present, and we are more inclined to believe that both Sony and Microsoft will opt to keep their current generation offerings on the market for as long as possible and make incremental updates to an already healthy platform. A new hardware cycle seems highly unlikely at this point, and in terms of teaming up, well, as the old saying goes — competition is healthy. Plus, with Sony’s talented and substantial first-party support, we highly doubt the time would ever arise for them to have no other choice but to side with the Big M. Perhaps, however, we’ll have some new players in town in the next decade or so to spice things up a little.
Portal 2 vaults in to April 2011
When Valve big cheese Gabe Newell hopped on stage at Sony’s E3 press conference this year, we couldn’t believe our eyes. After all, the outspoken dev has launched a barrage of disparaging remarks at PlayStation 3 in recent years, and we had pretty much given up on the notion of ever seeing a Valve title on the console anytime soon. Then he announced Portal 2 would be hitting Sony’s black box, and we rejoiced. The original game was, oddities aside, a compelling concoction of puzzles and adventuring that made The Orange Box worth the price of admission alone – well, next to Half-Life 2, that is. Unfortunately, Valve’s seen fit to push the release back by two months, in a move described as the “shortest delay in Valve history.” Shortest delay perhaps it is, but it doesn’t take the sting out of the fact we won’t be indulging in some first-person puzzling in February next year as original planned. Nonetheless, an extra coat of polish can only be a good thing, and we seriously recommend keeping an eye on this game – it’ll be worth the wait.