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Posted by IGN Feb 23 2014 16:00 GMT
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In case you missed any of the news this week, here's all our tops stories in under 20 minutes!

Posted by PlayStation Blog Feb 22 2014 21:28 GMT
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The beta for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn on PS4 is now live — go play! The game’s official release is April 14th, so now’s a good time to get a taste of Square Enix’s wildly popular MMORPG before diving into the full game.

Want to be a PlayStation MVP, and get inside access at events like E3? This here post will be relevant to your interests — and judging by the activity on the post, the interests of many others as well.

We finally got some new info on The Order: 1886, which is highly relevant to my interests, we got release dates forWolfenstein: The New Order (pre-order for access to the beta for the next Doom game… yeah, that Doom) and TowerFall Ascension, Strider is out now on PS3 and PS4, Daylight will let spectators scare the bejeezus out of livestreamers, and PlayStation Plus got its very own TV spot.

What are you playing?

  • I’m playing: Strider, Final Fantasy XIV Beta
  • I’m watching: Seinfeld
  • I’m listening to: Silversun Pickups, Giraffage
This Week’s Top 10 Posts The PlayStation MVP Program Wants You The Order on PS4: New Trailer, Story Details Revealed Wolfenstein: The New Order Out 5/20, Pre-order for Doom Beta Access TowerFall Ascension Coming to PS4 on March 11 Strider on PS4, PS3: Old-school Action, New-school Exploration Hands-on with Daylight on PS4: Broadcasting Your Horror Helldivers: 5 Things You Need to Know Experience More Together: Introducing the PS Plus TV Spot MonkeyPaw Games Retro Rush Week 6: Tomba! 2 Grounded: The Making of The Last of Us Now Available on Amazon Instant Video

This Week’s PlayStation Store Update

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This Week’s PlayStation Plus Update

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Most-Watched Video of the Week


Posted by PlayStation Blog Feb 22 2014 08:01 GMT
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It’s now Saturday. The floodgates have opened, and our login servers are starting to grind their gears in earnest — the PS4 beta has begun!

For those of you that have not yet found your way into the realm of Eorzea, this is for you. If you haven’t download the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn PS4 beta, just jump into PlayStation Store now.

First Steps

After you’ve logged in and updated the game, you can go straight to the character creation process. This is really straightforward — choose whatever suits you best! From hulking Roegadyn to tiny Lalafell, all is available to you.

But an important note: if you want to play with friends, you’ll want to make sure that you choose classes that start in the same city! It’s a long trip from city to city, until you do the quest to access a new travel method at level 15.

While you work yourself through the introduction, you’ll be in an instance (a sealed-off area in the game) that only you are in. That’s normal — as soon as you’ve finished the first few quests, you’ll find yourself among tons of other players.

The game will introduce the controls to you, and they shouldn’t take long to learn. While you’re on your own, play around with the controls as much as you like and get acquainted with them. Remember that you can use the PS4 touchpad like a mouse pointer, in case an open window bothers you.

As a general rule, try to follow the quests. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is very story focused, and the quests will lead you through the world.

How to Find Your Friends

In the lower left corner, you can find the chat window. And through the Start Menu, you can find and invite old or new friends to your group.

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Chatting and Chat Commands

You’ll see chat in many different colors. White text shows people using /say — only people in close vicinity can read this. Yellow chat is someone using /yell, which reaches much farther. Finally, there’s /shout in red, which everyone on the map will see. There are other modes as well, which you will discover as you play the game and join Free Companies or Linkshells.

And don’t forget: chat commands always start with a “/” in front.

Of course, you can also use emotes, either through the menu or by typing them in. /dance is always very popular.

Changing Classes

At level 10, you’ll be able to do a quest that allows you to change your class however you wish. To unlock new classes, you’ll need to do an introductory quest for the guild offering the class. Since a lot of guilds are located in other cities, you’ll want to wait until you gain access to a travel method connecting the cities at level 15.

This should be all you need to get started!

Enjoy exploring the realm of Eorzea. And thanks for helping us polish the game for its release on April 14th.


Posted by PlayStation Blog Feb 21 2014 17:00 GMT
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Master Reboot for PS3 launches on PlayStation Store March 4th, and everyone at Wales Interactive is really excited about its imminent release.

With Master Reboot, we have dared to be different and created a beautiful, stylistic world that takes inspiration from games like Day of the Tentacle and Tron. We mix mystery and intrigue through its narrative, and convey it through a minimalist visual aesthetic.

It was a big decision to create this bold, yet simple graphical look for the game — the games industry overall is geared to emulating reality in this particular genre, and we knew this would split opinion. We wanted to create a style that would really stand out and give us, as the developers, an identity. I think we’ve achieved that — Master Reboot has been described as “a gorgeous indie horror adventure,” and “a breath of fresh, creepy air,” and “a freakishly cool game where you invade the memories of dead people.”

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Master Reboot takes around five to eight hours to complete, depending on the player and how much you explore. It’s definitely a game you get more out of the longer you play, and to really understand the full story you’ll have to find all the “blue ducks.” Blue ducks are very important in Master Reboot… finding them will help you uncover clues to unravel the story.

The story takes the player on a journey through the mysterious world of the Soul Cloud, where the secrets of its creation and who are you are will be revealed. Using elements of psychological horror, Master Reboot will not only present a new vision of life after death, but also bring fear and disturbing imagery into its digital world.

To sum it up: Master Reboot is an engaging puzzle game play designed for fans of adventure games, and it’s quite unlike anything else on the market.


Posted by PlayStation Blog Feb 21 2014 16:00 GMT
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Helldivers marries real-life laughter and video game death better than it should. Within ten minutes of top-down mayhem, my team and I were mauled by a wild praying mantis, trampled by beetles, evaporated by ordinance, and crushed by our own orbital supply pod. And we couldn’t stop laughing along the way.

This absurdly entertaining co-op shooter is coming to PS3, PS4, and PS Vita later this year, courtesy of Swedish developer Arrowhead Games. A brutally difficult experience spritzed with Starship Troopers aesthetics, Helldivers reminds us that some of the best multiplayer still emerges from couch co-op. And a countless array of untimely deaths.

Helldivers establishes its dystopian future with a sly wink. It’s just serious enough to keep players on the battlefield, but only just. The inhabitants of Super Earth — under a “managed democracy” — face a three-pronged attack against a host of dangerous enemies. Deadly bug hordes included.

As a Helldiver, players will drop into procedurally-generated environments in order to drive back the alien menace. Their objectives include destroying bug nests, securing contested zones, and even protecting supply containers as they move from one station to another. And these missions can be handled with four players across local and online connections — or any combination of the two.

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Before a sortie, players customize their loadouts on the Helldivers ship, which hovers ominously above world. A whole slew of weapons, explosives, and special support skills can be unlocked through play. Once on-world, the Helldivers are assaulted by baddies from every angle. With friendly fire a constant danger, we soon found ourselves causing more damage to our own team than to the slithering bugs in our way. It takes real coordination to push from objective to objective, but getting blown away by a friendly trooper has its own charm.

Like other top-down shooters, the sticks on DualShock 4 handle movement and aim separately. Players are expected to get comfortable with the setup right away, as Helldivers spares little expense in sending lethal aggression towards the team. Enemies flood the battlefield like a true infestation, and even friendly equipment poses a threat. The aforementioned support abilities call down critical aid to player troops, but can literally crush any unfortunate soldiers meandering underneath (instant hilarity).

These skills are activated by heart-pounding d-pad inputs in the midst of combat, reminiscent of fighting game commands or Konami codes (or, for Final Fantasy enthusiasts, Sabin’s Blitz attacks). When entered correctly, players can call for extra ammo, revive fallen troops, or even place devastating sentry cannons. Friendly note: these sentry guns will not detect a player if he or she is standing between it and enemy bugs. So stay out of the way, or face another gruesome death. And more hilarity.

Missions are fast and fun on their own, but there’s a sort of metagame to be found in the overarching Super Earth conflict. Arrowhead plans to create community-wide wars that last for two real-life months. If players can collectively rise to the task and push back the alien invasion, the difficulty for everyone will rise. If the community fails, the difficulty drops. These massive engagements will allow the global Helldiver populace to decide how future battles will be waged.

Despite how difficult Helldivers is in its early state, this brutal shooter will get players laughing. And that’s a real accomplishment when those players are being eviscerated by giant insects. Think about it.


Posted by IGN Feb 21 2014 12:00 GMT
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We explain why Dark Souls is a game that only really begins once you've finished it.

Posted by IGN Feb 21 2014 03:28 GMT
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The IGN AU team talk Evolve, Titanfall, Irrational Games, Rambo: The Video Game, and much, much more.

Posted by IGN Feb 21 2014 03:24 GMT
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We've got 25 premium double-passes and Call of Duty: Ghosts Onslaught DLC codes to give away!

Posted by IGN Feb 20 2014 23:12 GMT
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If famous Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu is correct, these are the most eagerly-anticipated upcoming games in the east.

Posted by IGN Feb 20 2014 18:26 GMT
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This all-new Vita-exclusive murder mystery has joined the ranks of Vita's best games. Come find out why.

Posted by IGN Feb 20 2014 17:44 GMT
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Way back in 2011, Ken Levine revealed that BioShock was in the works for PS Vita. Can we finally confirm that it's nothing more than vaporware?

Posted by PlayStation Blog Feb 20 2014 17:00 GMT
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The Deception series was born from the fusion of two gameplay concepts: playing as an evil character and using traps as weapons. The combination of these features creates a truly unique gameplay experience – one in which you can plan and lay out traps, lure enemies into them, find the right timing to activate them, and enjoy the reactions of your victims. The thrill and anticipation as you watch for that perfect moment to press the button and activate a trap is a feeling we really strove to capture for players in Deception IV: Blood Ties, coming to PS3 and PS Vita March 25th.

The real fun, however, lies in combining these traps into combos. When your enemy slips on a Banana Peel, you could follow it up by pushing him into position with the Nudge Wall, picking him up with the Claw, and then finally taking him out with a strategically-placed arrow, for example.

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Click here to see the full gallery

Players can take advantage of the themed traps that come with each stage, and combine them with their own equipped traps for even more possibilities. This gives each trap battle an element of strategy, as players must decide which traps to utilize and how to combine them for maximum effect.

In the early stages of development on Deception IV: Blood Ties, when we were gathering a lot of new trap ideas, we came up with the idea to categorize the traps into three different “styles”: Sadistic traps for maximum damage, Elaborate traps for complex combos, and Humiliating traps for entertaining enemy reactions. This encourages players to find their favorite play style to suit their own tastes.

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One example of a Sadistic trap is the Maiden’s Embrace. As our starting point, we took the Iron Maiden – a notorious medieval torture device – and added our own special touch to up the adrenaline factor.

Elaborate traps embody the technical aspect of trap combos, so we have a variety of traps like the Springboard and Claw that have special effects or lead into to other traps.

For Humiliating traps, we looked to places like comedy shows and comics for inspiration. We thought it would be funny to be able to use classics like the banana peel and the pie-in-the-face gag (well, a birthday cake, in this case) as weapons, so these make appearances as well.

How you use these traps in battle is only limited by your imagination. We hope you’ll give Deception IV: Blood Ties a try and experience this unique gameplay for yourself!


Video
Posted by PlayStation Blog Feb 20 2014 14:00 GMT
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The meek shine of a cell phone light provides precious little comfort in the dark halls of an abandoned hospital. Its glow throws menacing shadows across every wall and beneath long-abandoned wheelchairs. Creaking steps and whispers flutter down the passage, and the promise of a scare is never far off. But Daylight, which launches on PS4 this April, offers a different take on the classic genre. And with the developers at Zombie Studios taking a keen interest in streaming tech, the horror of playing alone could actually be a shared experience.

Crafted by a small team at Zombie, Daylight follows the frightened footsteps of Sarah Gwynn as she works her way through a series of haunting environs. While many horror games rely on finely tuned scares specific to the moment, Daylight uses procedurally generated play to keep every moment fresh. Levels and scares change for each player, meaning that no two sessions will be identical. And no player will know exactly when that foreboding whisper will turn into a howling spectre hungry for Sarah’s life.

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In Daylight, players have no weapons – only flares to fend off the supernatural powers at work in the hospital. Sarah’s only hope is escape. Not fighting for her life, but running for it. And Daylight involves a lot of breathless running, as players guide Sarah through the labyrinthine corridors and thick forests in hope of finding a way home. Collecting items (often in the form of creepy notes) will progress the story forward, and inch players one step closer to the end.

But the team at Zombie has other plans for Daylight. Streaming has been a huge boon to the PS4 community, and the devs want Daylight to have an involved relationship with livestreams. The hope is to allow viewers to control the actual scares in a streamer’s experience, providing a much more interactive dynamic between player and audience. This new form of communal play has been showered with attention recently thanks to the Twitch community streaming a classic RPG as a group.

With harrowing sound effects, random scares, and even 3D support (offering an incredible degree of depth), Daylight is already damn scary. And there’s nothing more horrifying than giving the internet the ability to frighten you, too.


Posted by PlayStation Blog Feb 20 2014 13:21 GMT
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Heads up, ladies and gents! Stock up on supplies, book time off of work, don your cloak and bow — whatever you need to get prepared — as Thief is coming to PS4 and PS3 next week! To hold you over ’til then, here’s our launch trailer, which unveils new snippets of Garrett’s story, as well as some new gameplay.

Ruled by power and money, the City grows sick. Unwise men have tempered with powers they don’t understand. You take on the role of Garrett, the Master Thief, and you can approach each situation in the way you choose. Play as a predator and strike from the shadows, or complete the game without taking a single life. You can even complete the game without causing an enemy alert. This is classic Thief.

Want to really challenge yourself? Completely turn off the screen’s interface, or even enable Iron Man mode, which triggers a Game Over if Garrett dies. There’s a multitude of ways to fully customize your experience, as we know you guys like to tinker. So make sure you check out all the options we’ve made available before you step into the shadows.

We’ve said it many times before, but at Eidos-Montréal, we’re huge fans of the original Thief games, and we’ve done our absolute best to bring you a superb stealth game.

Thief will emerge in stores on Tuesday February 25th for PS3 and PS4. For more details, or to pre-order the game, visit the official website.


Posted by IGN Feb 20 2014 11:30 GMT
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In a three-part series, the developers of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII reveal and analyse

Posted by IGN Feb 20 2014 10:00 GMT
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The demands of the 'Nemesis system' means that the current-gen version of Shadows of Mordor is likely to be lighter on features.

Posted by IGN Feb 20 2014 05:41 GMT
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Opinion: why did Irrational Games close, and what does its closure mean?

Posted by PlayStation Blog Feb 20 2014 00:01 GMT
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This Week’s Featured Releases

See what’s new on Sony Entertainment Network! This week’s Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited info below:

Music Unlimited Highlights

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The 2nd full-length album from indie darlings Phantogram and their biggest shot at mainstream success thus far with the hit, “Fall in Love.”

Reggae star Sean Paul’s 6th album, featuring guest appearances from Damien Marley, 2 Chainz, Nicki Minaj and more.

American Idol Season 12 winner Candice Glover’s debut album, featuring the singles “Cried” & “I Am Beautiful.”

Cole Swindell’s debut, most akin to his country predecessors Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean & Kip Moore, with some fun romps like “Brought to You by Beer.”

For further exclusive access to all the new album releases – see details here.

Video Unlimited Highlights

Drama… So much drama. But all of it is oh so good. Acclaimed film 12 Years A Slave, the epic Season 3 of Game of Thrones and lots more fill this week’s New Release Recap.

12 Years A Slave: Don’t take our word for it, take the Golden Globes and Oscar nominations this film has under its belt as the proof. Not only is it one of the (or arguably THE) most gripping and powerful films of the year, it’s packed with one heck of an all-star cast, including: Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, Paul Dano and more.

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From acclaimed director Steve McQueen (Shame, Hunger) comes this moving film based on a true story. In the pre-Civil War United States, free citizen Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is abducted and sold into slavery. Through years living as a slave to a vicious plantation owner (Michael Fassbender), Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. It’s only after a chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist that he finds hope to change his life.
Game of Thrones | Season 3: Winter is coming… and so are wildlings, armies and lots of gripping, action- and drama-packed episodes in Season 3. Catch up on the entire season (or watch it all over again) right now, new on PlayStation Store!

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The Lannisters continue to hold onto King’s Landing, though an uprising in the North threatens the balance of power in the realm. Meanwhile, Robb Stark faces a disaster, an army of wildlings march for the Wall and Dany is finally reunited with her dragons.

Want to get more Video Unlimited scoop on all the new releases? View further details here.


Posted by IGN Feb 19 2014 23:51 GMT
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Bringing the arcade classic Tempest into the 21st century with a psychedelic explosion of color, music, and vectors.

Posted by IGN Feb 19 2014 20:47 GMT
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Battle it out on two fan-favorite maps from Killzone 2.

Posted by IGN Feb 19 2014 19:24 GMT
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FF XIII got a bad rap after it launched. But now, a few years later, it's time to take a closer look.

Posted by IGN Feb 19 2014 18:27 GMT
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The collection -- a combination of two different PC games -- offers a pair of action games for the price of one.

Posted by IGN Feb 19 2014 18:14 GMT
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Telltale Games and Gearbox Software are hosting a panel at the expo next month, and they'll reveal the first details about the upcoming episodic game series.

Posted by IGN Feb 19 2014 18:09 GMT
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Publisher XSEED has revealed the release date of its upcoming Monster Hunter-like game for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.

Posted by PlayStation Blog Feb 19 2014 18:07 GMT
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TowerFall Ascension is finally nearing release on PS4. I’ve been getting tons of tweets and emails imploring me for a release date, and I’m super excited to announce that the game will be available on PlayStation Store March 11th in North America. We’re still ironing out the details for Europe, but it shouldn’t be far behind.

For the uninitiated, TowerFall Ascension is a 4-player archery combat platformer. It’s a competitive party game inspired by classics from the glory days of local multiplayer. You’ll get plenty of chaos, close calls, and comebacks. Be sure to have a few friends (or enemies) handy when you download it. Gloating is encouraged and noise complaints just mean you’re playing it right.

Hands-on footage of TowerFall Ascension, courtesy of hojjoshMC

If you’ve played the original TowerFall you know that at its core, the game is about intense 4-­player battles. In Ascension there are 50 new Versus arenas to fight on, for a total of 120 unique levels, and a bunch of new variants to customize your matches with. There are a few new powerups too, which change the game up considerably. My favorite: drill arrows that burrow through walls.

Ascension also introduces the new 1­ or 2­-player co-­op Quest mode. It’s an arena mode where monsters spawn from portals as you defend yourself using the same skills you’ve honed in Versus mode. Quest mode is an interesting new take on the same core mechanics, and adds a bunch of new content to explore even when you don’t have three friends around.

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The game’s previous incarnation, simply called TowerFall, was awarded #3 game of the year from Polygon. TowerFall Ascension has gone on to become a PAX 10 selection and an IndieCade awardee, and now it’s a finalist at the Independent Games Festival. But what I really can’t wait to hear is feedback from players. And I’m eager to see what you guys and gals share with PS4’s livestreaming and video sharing features. See you in March!


Posted by PlayStation Blog Feb 19 2014 17:05 GMT
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As I write this, we’re putting the finishing touches on Ragnarok Odyssey ACE, a revised and expanded version of the original Ragnarok Odyssey set to launch on April 1st on PS3 and PS Vita. Now that we’re just about done, we can go into more detail about what’s in the game, and what newcomers and returning Ragnarok Odyssey veterans can expect.

Initially designed for play on the go, Ragnarok Odyssey gets players into the action as fast as possible, either solo or with up to three companions. Players complete a variety of missions in a Norse-themed wildland, collecting treasures, components and ingredients along the way. In between missions, players can roam their home base – a fortress on the edge of the civilized world – and assemble their loot into new upgrades and abilities. The game’s highlights are its battles against enormous bosses, in which players use their gravity-defying powers to fly circles around the giants and take them apart piece by piece.

ACE takes the original Odyssey’s core gameplay and expands on it dramatically. The first chapter alone introduces a buffet of new features, and the game’s former ending is now its midpoint. The first new features are right there in the character creation screen, which now offers even more options for customization (including eight brand-new voices, four each for male and female). For solo players, ACE offers a dozen elite AI mercenaries, any two of whom the player can recruit for a given mission (and one of whom happens to sound a lot like me). For multiplayer, each class has several new job-specific powers, called ACE Skills, which enhance characters’ roles as team players. Clerics, for example, can now generate a persistent, movable healing aura. (Speaking of multiplayer, ACE supports cross-play; PS3 and Vita players can play together at will, with no extra steps required.) ACE also introduces a new special weapon type, known as Halomonas weapons, which grow in power as the characters do.

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But that’s just the beginning. Once players complete Chapter 9 – which was the endgame of the original Ragnarok Odyssey – a vast new dungeon appears, complete with its own story, all-new bosses, and new kinds of challenges. All told, the new Tower of Yggdrasil has 400 floors (not 100 as previously reported – more on that in a bit), each of which changes its layout with every visit.

(One other correction: In our previous blog entry on ACE, we reported that there was new story content throughout the game. There are new characters and dialogue sequences, and plenty of new content throughout the game, but the bulk of the new story content kicks in once the Tower shows up. Apologies for misleading anyone on that; we were still putting the game together at the time, going by the best info we had, and didn’t fully see how it all fit until later. We’re older and wiser now.)

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In addition to the major new features above, returning players can enjoy a variety of enhancements that make Ragnarok Odyssey more convenient to play. ACE’s tavern (which, as before, functions as its multiplayer hub) now includes a set of old-timey speaking tubes, through which the player can buy and sell from the fort’s merchants without having to leave and come back. Several new control schemes allow the player to lock on, dash, and maneuver as he or she sees fit. Another new feature is the Billionaire Pot, a magical urn that converts old junky loot into fresh new goods. And, Thor’s name be praised, the benefits of weapon refining are no longer random.

That’s not even getting into the upcoming content patches, two of which have been released in Japan and will both be coming stateside soon. These patches introduce even more new features, including special daily quests, random card draws, login bonuses, leaderboards, additional ACE skills, and (in the second content patch, which may arrive in the States at the same time as the first) a new boss rush mode in a new area called the Prison of the Gods.

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Of course, all of that leaves one key question: What about players who already have the original Ragnarok Odyssey? Returning players can import their characters from the original game – to either the PS Vita or the PS3 version of ACE, after which the characters can migrate between both – and have the characters’ name, appearance, and cards transfer over. (Be sure to unequip any cards from your outfit before you initiate the transfer, as cards equipped on outfits do not transfer over, nor do the outfits or weapons themselves). Story-wise, new and returning characters alike take it from the top, though returning characters are likely to blaze through the early game quickly, with all the new content to enjoy while they’re at it. And, to answer one of the most popular questions, Trophies earned in the original game stay in the original game. The good news is many of the Trophies are new, and most of the not-new ones are the kind you won’t have to go out of your way for.

With its cross-play, saved game importing, content patching, and other bells and whistles we can’t go into detail about just yet, Ragnarok Odyssey ACE has been an interesting technical challenge for all of us here at XSEED and at its developer, GungHo. We hope you enjoy the results, which will come flying at you April 1st on PS3 and Vita. The PS3 version will retail on PlayStation Store and on brick-and-mortar shelves for $39.99. The Vita version comes in two varieties: A physical limited edition, featuring a soundtrack CD (with 25 total tracks from various artists, including Nobuo Uematsu) for $39.99, and a digital edition, without the soundtrack, for $34.99.

Have more questions about Ragnarok Odyssey ACE? Let us know in the comments!


Posted by PlayStation Blog Feb 19 2014 15:10 GMT
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Hey there, Johan from Arrowhead here. I’m excited to give you an update on how Helldivers is coming along since our announcement at Gamescom in August. For those of you who haven’t seen much of the game – Helldivers is a top-down, twin stick shooter set in a dystopian world, coming to PS4, PS3 and PS Vita this year. As a part of an elite fighting force “The Helldivers,” you battle for humanity against 3 formidable alien races, protecting the inhabitants of Super Earth from the ugly realities of intergalactic warfare. But how did this ugly war begin? Hmm…

Intergalactic campaign

Helldivers is all about team work, the entire community wages a intergalactic war played out over 4-6 weeks (we are still tweaking the exact time frame), every victory and every defeat impacts the war which can be either won or lost, depending on the efforts of you – the community.

Whether you’re cooperating with your 2-4 person squad or fighting steadfastly alone, you choose the mission that matches your capabilities. Rise through the ranks and earn new weapons and perks or save entire planets for that most valuable asset: the Stratagems.

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Say Hello to the Cyborg

Up to this point, we showed you one of the enemy races in the game, the Bugs. In addition to the Bugs, Super Earth is also at war with the socio-feudal Cyborg Nation, a race of bionically augmented separatists that once were part of the Super Earth federation, but now have declared their sovereignty. The Cyborg’s heavy armor and projectile weaponry presents the Helldivers with a very different tactical challenge, where the “fire & maneuver” doctrine is of essence.

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Cold as Ice

At Gamescom, we showed you the desert environment, and today, we’re unveiling the second environment – ice. Not only do you need to band together to fight the alien races, you need to stay on your toes to tackle the dynamic environments that dictate your fighting techniques. Beware, if you wander from the solid rock to the deep powder, your squad will need to trudge through the snow, slowing you down and rendering retreat impossible.

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Strategize with Strategems

Probably the most essential part of the game (aside from your comrades) are strategems. Each player selects their load-out prior to the mission, containing up to four support strategems of their choosing. Called in by the player, stratagems are key to deciding the outcome of battle, a few of my current favorites are automated the defense turrets, napalm, heavy artillery for busting tanks and jump packs. One thing with Helldivers that never seems to get old is the bickering and strategic talks when selecting the stratagem composition with your team.

Yes, There’s Mechs!

To tackle some of the unforgiving environments and challenging foes, Helldivers have a fleet of advanced vehicles – the most frequently deployed is a mechanical armored biped that wreaks absolute havoc. The standard mech is equipped with a Gatling gun and a grenade launcher pod.

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Remember, all of the weapons in Helldivers are very powerful to counter the tough alien races that mankind faces, as such almost all weapons can tear a man in half. In the heat of battle, nobody is safe.

Watch out for Helldivers, available for PS3, PS Vita and running in beautiful 1080p and 60 fps on PS4, later this year.


Posted by PlayStation Blog Feb 19 2014 15:05 GMT
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At last, we can reveal the Fun Fair to the world! It’s the level we’ve worked on the longest, and its roots can be traced all the way back to the first prototype of the game we showed back in 2011.

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Back then, it was a no-fun fair. It was a place of danger, a beautiful and colorful city, but one that was under attack from a mysterious enemy. Bombs rained down on the town and its peaceful citizens. Your job was to collect these hapless denizens and ferry them to an awaiting boat.

Three years have passed and the city is no longer under threat; it has been rebuilt and expanded. The original citizens are back and enjoying more peaceful times… but not quite, as the Fun Fair has come to town!

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This is one of the most frantic and hectic places that you will visit.
You will be FLUNG at high velocity into dizzying, concentric trajectories by the SPIROGRABBERS!
You will be SCARED BEYOND WITLESS by the terrifying and not at all cute GHOSTLY TRAIN!
You will be THOROUGHLY FERRISED by the magnificent FERRIS WHEEL.
…and if you like sushi, prize vegetables, juvenile birds, mythical reptiles, headless horses, and multi-limbed deities you will NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.*

You can probably tell that we have a special fondness for this bit of our game, as when we first started figuring out what Hohokum would become, this was the first stuff we made. The characters are still our favorites: they are urbane, cosmopolitan, and quite daft. Amongst them are Oven Gloves, Colonel Gandihar, Super Insulated Girl, and the one who is known simply as “The Cruiser” — see if you can guess which is which.

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The city itself is inspired, in part, by the curious town of Portmeirion in North Wales. Built by Clough Williams-Ellis, you probably know it from “The Prisoner” TV series. He was inspired by the charming architecture of northern Italy, and so were we, but also by the building blocks of our toddler years. So we conceived a modular system, different to anything else in the game: a kit of columns, arches, verandas, and cupolas, which we stacked up to create the Fun Fair’s bustling arcades and dizzying spires.

So what about these bombs that rained down on the gentle residents? Looking back, it seems weird to us that we put bombs and explosions into Hohokum. I guess we were making a video game and we thought that video games generally have explosions in them, so perhaps ours should, too. We were wrong. The more Hohokum has grown, the more we realized that stuff like this has no place in our game. No one gets blown up in Hohokum (Well ok, there is that one epic naval battle, but you’d hardly notice it.).

We hope you like the Fun Fair. Our advice: stay away from the balloon seller. He’s a bad man.

*and if you have a specific penchant for umbrellas and parasols, this is also the place for you.

Posted by IGN Feb 19 2014 13:11 GMT
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Konami has released a video comparing the graphics of the PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes.

Posted by IGN Feb 19 2014 02:19 GMT
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Colin previewed The Order: 1886, and people got mad. We discuss that and welcome Ryan Clements back to the show!