myps3space.info

Hi all. I am Steve Bolender, a producer for NBA 09 The Inside for the PLAYSTATION 3. This year we are introducing Franchise Mode. All us hoop fans love to grab a quick game of video b-ball, but when you’re ready to invest some time and really dig in, our Franchise mode delivers.

There are few considerations you should ponder before starting your NBA road to glory. Do you want to play within the NBA salary cap guidelines and base your personnel decisions on real world economic constraints or would you prefer to play fast and loose with the signing cash? Do you want to be in the game? You can create yourself as a character, drop onto the team of your choice and lead your team to the top.

One tip here, if you want to bring a Progression Player into the fray, it pays to build him up in the core game before you start the journey. You can actually bring up to five Progression Players onto your Franchise roster. Progression Players inside a Franchise are subject to the same advancement and regression mechanisms as all the other players. That said, the stronger the player is when you initiate your Franchise, the greater player he will eventually become.

Another tip that will help you win it all is to set the team strategy sliders to match your personnel. If you build a team that likes to run and puts up a lot of 3’s, then make sure you set your strategies to take advantage of your players. Also the better you know your upcoming opponent, the more effectively you can set up your defensive strategies to counter their strengths. You’ve got a game-by-game chess match on your hands and attention to detail can prove to be the edge you need to carry the day.

There is a ton of other stuff I’d love to address here, but a blog is no place for a novel so I’ll wrap it up by telling you I am having a lot of fun playing Franchise in NBA 09 The Inside. Give it a play, I bet you’ll come to the same conclusion. After you get a chance to play it, let us know what you think. We’re listening!

When we started planning our Orlando blog readers’ meet-up, I can’t say that I set the bar that high. 30 people would be stunning. After all, our previous meet-ups took place alongside industry events such as PAX and E3; we had a built-in audience. Last Friday in Orlando was just that: a Friday in Orlando.

And yet last Friday we held our biggest, most fun, and best event ever. Over 150 Floridians turned out (many driving from far-off locations such as Tampa and Gainesville) to partake in WipEout HD, LittleBigPlanet beta, Buzz! Quiz TV and BBQ. It was great to get to talk with so many of you, many of whom expressed thanks for coming all the way out there.

My favorite story of the night came from the gentleman (pictured below), who bet his friend $5 that he wouldn’t win anything, “because he never does.” This, of course, is right before he won a copy of Buzz PS3.

Actually, everyone was a winner, as we surprised attendees with LittleBigPlanet beta codes, prompting the biggest cheers of the night.

Thanks again to everyone who attended, and especially to Matt and Sean who took so many great pics with their fancy SLR cameras. Oh, and to the Orlando Sentinel, PS3 Fanboy, and other bloggers who wrote about the event.

Uber-extra-special thanks to the fine folks at Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy/UCF, for proving such gracious hosts in an awesome venue. Thanks Todd, Rich, and JR.

Just so you know, we’ll be back in Central Florida (in a somewhat different capacity) in just a couple of weeks during the PlayStation Pro.

Oh, and we’ve got a few extra LBP codes for those who couldn’t make it. The first 50 people to email us at playstationblogorlando@gmail.com will receive an LBP beta key by the end of the day (Pacific time!).

UPDATE: All winners have been identified, and will be receiving their codes shortly (some of you have them already). So, um, that’s good on the emails! Thanks!

Today the staff at Evo are doing a little dance and breathing a huge sigh of relief. For today is the day of our fist gold master candidate, which as I write this is winging its way to assorted testers around the world ready for them to give MotorStorm: Pacific Rift one last hammering. This isn’t the end, chances are there still a few bugs to be fixed, but we’ve finished dessert, and are now just waiting for coffee and the bill. Phew.

But rather than browsing through vacation brochures, I thought this impasse would be best spent writing a few blog posts which answer some of the questions that have been floating around the internet about Pacific Rift. The first one of which I noticed is how many people I’ve seen decrying the fact the lovely little pause camera from the first game isn’t present in the recent demo.

Well guess what? We’ve taken it out because we’ve introduced a photo mode to the main game, essentially the old pause camera on steroids. Hopefully it will be a good substitute and give your greasy little paws something to do while the game is paused, other than just going to the khazi. No doubt some of you will probably use it for rubbing our noses into any graphical glitches you may find, or taking comedy pictures of dismounted drivers looking like they’re humping trees, but hopefully more of you will use it for grabbing some ace action pictures of the carnage and destruction we’ve worked so hard to give you in the game. You see we like the carnage in MotorStorm.

Years of doing more sanitized racing games, coupled with an unhealthy obsession with breaking stuff really made us try and push the boat out with the amount of things that falls apart in the game.

This desire for destruction gave us a few headaches when designing the game. The problem with racing games (and Motorsports in general) is that crashing is probably the most spectacular and exiting part of the whole affair. Unfortunately, crashing is also mutually exclusive to winning.

After much deliberation we were left with two solutions to the problem -

Option 1 - Every time you crash in MotorStorm one of our army of in-house vivisectionists ritually sacrifices a cute kitten to punish MotorStorm players and make sure they learn that crashing will only lead to kitty Armageddon.

Option 2 – Make crashes look awesome, dismember the vehicles, spew bits across the track, crumple them, crush them and toss the drivers into the path of other vehicles causing bigger and more spectacular crashes. Most importantly allow players involved in the crash to savor the carnage and then get back into the racing with as little time lost as possible.

Guess which one we picked?

The levels of destruction in the first MotorStorm were pretty good, but this time around we really wanted to go to town. First off we developed a completely new vehicle deformation system that realistically crumples mashed vehicles into twisted wrecks, as well as throw components across the track. The end results are, in our honest opinion, smashing (excuse the anglo-centric pun). Secondly we took a real close look at the way we throw ragdoll drivers around, because breaking cars is amusing, but seeing your driver fly through the air to land in a crumpled heap only to be run over by a monster truck, tossed around and end up as a hood ornament on a big rig is the pinnacle of the whole MotorStorm experience. Don’t worry though, it’s more ‘Tom and Jerry’ than ‘Faces of Death’. Good clean wholesome fun.

So, crash a lot, enjoy it, and send us your photo mode screenshots of all that lovely carnage. And if you’ve used photo mode to take pictures of things you think we got wrong, please address them to -

Uzbekistan Automobile and River Transport Agency,
3 Usman Yusupov Street
Tashkent
Uzbekistan

Till next time.

If the reading list seems a bit shorter than usual, it’s because I’ve been on the road (LittleBigPlanet@Parsons, Resistance 2 press event, PSB Orlando Meet-up). That means I’ll need your help with links - please let us know what you’ve been reading in the comments below.

The PS Blog weekly reading list (Week of 9/22)

• Famitsu: Level-5 scaring up two new PSP RPGs - Joystiq
• Burnout Paradise Trophy Pack is Live Today - Criterion Games
• ‘Little Big Planet’ 24-Hour Timelapse Video - MTV Multiplayer
• In Tough Economic Times, Video Games Console - NPR
• WipEout HD Review - IGN
• Level-5 announces Ushiro for the PSP - Gamekyo
• 4 Hours With Sackboy - TheSixthAxis
• Hands on: Insomniac’s Resistance 2 - Destructoid
• Hey Doods, NIS America Will Publish The Prinny Action Game - Siliconera
• Suda51’s PS1 Game The Silver Case Coming to PSN - 1UP
• PS3 Fanboy hands-on: Resistance 2 - PS3 Fanboy
• The PS3 Games of Fall 2008 - IGN
• Resistance 2? Co-Op And Campaign Impressions - At Long Last - MTV Multiplayer

And as I’m waiting at the airport, one more thing to drool over.

Hi again! The weekend’s here – time for your weekly update of new movie & TV shows on the PLAYSTATION Store.

This week we’ve added new video content from the following television series:

• American Chopper, Season 3
• Black Gold, Season 1
• Dice: Undisputed, Season 1
• Prison Break, Season 4
• Robot Chicken, Season 3
• Rumbling Hearts, Season 1
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Season 1
• The First 48 Hours, Season 7
• The O.C., Season 4
• Witchblade, Season 1 (anime)

We’ve also added the following feature films to the Store:

• Deception
• Gun Shy
• Kung Fu Hustle
• Mad Max
• Mama’s Boy
• Ocean’s Twelve
• Patriot Games
• Sex and the City Extended Version
• The Brothers Grimm
• The Godfather
• The Godfather Part II
• The Godfather Part III

And, finally, here are our top 20 movie and top 20 TV downloads for the week:

Have a great weekend!

• MotorStorm Monday: The Inspiration for Pacific Rift - yes, we’ll be doing MotorStorm Mondays.
• Go Hands-on with Valkyria Chronicles this week! - Did anyone attend this? Please let us know how it was. (We love this game!)
• Get Your BUZZ! Face On Tomorrow! - Buzz was quite popular at our Orlando meet-up last night.
• The Punisher: No Mercy Coming Exclusively to PSN - Surprise!
• WipEout HD Approaching, Dust Off the Trophy Case - Now available on the PLAYSTATION Store.
• Help Save Gotham! Limited Edition PlayStation 2 LEGO Batman Bundle on Shelves Today! - Lego Batman also available on PS3 and PSP.
• Bioshock PS3: Of Little Sisters and Ferris Wheels - We’re getting pretty close to the release of this one! More to come from 2K soon.
• Parsons’ LittleBigPlanet Levels “Blow Away” Media Molecule - You’ll be hearing LBP tips directly from the winning team (Team Good Sportsmanship) early next week.
• The Punisher: No Mercy – Your Questions Answered - thanks, Zsolt!
• Mega Man 9 arrives today on the PSN! - Now available on the PLAYSTATION Store.
• GEON Emotions: Feel it today on PSN - Now available on the PLAYSTATION Store.
• PlayStation Store Update - 4 downloadable games, great Rock Band tracks, more.
• Resistance 2: The Latest - behind the scenes at last week’s the R2 press event.
• LittleBigPlanet: Public Beta Madness! - have you gotten your key yet?
• Update on PSN Cards - Everywhere, coming soon.
• Geon Emotions: Questions Answered - thanks Karl for answering our readers’ questions!

Please note, this week’s Video Store Update, typically posted on Friday evening, will follow this post in a few hours.

Courtesy of David “Point Man” Brothers

• Second Weekly SOCOMdotcom Beta Battle! - A quick wrapup of the latest SOCOM.com beta game.
• Beta Poll! - Give us some feedback on how you dig the beta.
• SOCOM Presentation - The team presented SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation to a bunch of retail managers. Read how it went here.
• SOCOM: Confrontation Public Beta 1.40 Patch Incoming - The title kinda says it all, doesn’t it?
• Guess What! - It’s another beta game for the SOCOM.com gang.

Courtesy of Bryan Intihar - Community Manager, Insomniac Games

This week’s post includes a recap of the recent media events for Resistance 2 along with a quick update on some of the game’s features (such as split-screen support and customizing Chimera in competitive multiplayer. Also, I sit down with a longtime friend of mine who currently works in our QA department. If someone has ever thought about joining the industry via QA, this interview is a must-read.

Courtesy of Victor Zuylen – Editor, Killzone Community

• ISA Engineering Tool – This week we examine the ISA Engineering Tool - what it does, how it was designed, and what it does for Killzone 2’s online gameplay.

In answer to the various comments regarding “Geon” PSN (in no particular order):

The game took so long to port because it wasn’t a port. We spent time redesigning and coding key elements of the game in response to feedback we got after launching the XBLA version so that the PSN version has a much better single and multi-player experience. These include:

• New goal scoring system which encourages player interaction (it’s essential to stop your opponent from scoring);
• Redesigned single player maps.
• Introduction of a new League mode.
• Players have attack and shield as standard (instead of only via a power-up) allowing for greater interaction with (thumping the hell out of) your opponent.
• Redesigned power-ups, with the introduction of new ones such as Bliss’ ghost cubes (which collect pellets for you) and Rage’s extra attack.
• Improved AI to handle the new gameplay.
• 1080p High Definition visuals.
• Did we mention the trophies?

Comatoes asks, “What the…? I sincerely hope there’s a demo or at least a video to check out… this sounds completely odd.”

Answer: Yes Comatoes, it certainly is odd. The best way to describe the game is that it is like playing Numberwang with a sledge hammer and a bag of rodents. What do you expect from an English game development team based in an old train yard?

The how-to-play video is up at http://www.strawdogstudios.com/geon/
It is the tutorial video so it takes things slowly, compared to the actual game. Other game play videos will follow shortly.

StalkingSilence asks, “Multiplayer online or offline? Saw a trailer and will probably pick this up.”

Answer: It has multi-player on-line and off-line (split screen). The multi-player modes include:

• Multi-player – Up to 4 players.
• Duel – Go head to head against a friend and inflict some pain!
• Last Man Standing – Up to 4 players battle it out – who will be the last man standing?
• Team Geon – Team up with a friend to battle your enemies in this 2vs2 mode.

Screenshots …. http://uk.playstation.com/games-media/games/detail/item118876/Geon/

Yep that’s the UK Playstation site.

Hope that clears a few things up.

As many of you have been asking for the PLAYSTATION Network Cards (especially in light of the huge PLAYSTATION Store content update yesterday)), we are excited to let you know that we have a full roll-out at major retailers on the way. The PLAYSTATION Network Cards will be available at Walmart, Best Buy, select Sam’s Club outlets in October 2008, and at Barnes & Noble College Bookstores locations in November 2008. Cards are available in $20.00 and $50.00 denominations and are currently offered at BLOCKBUSTER, Pamida, Meijer Superstores and Speedway store locations.

We’ll continue to update you as these cards are available in these stores and as they available in more retail locations.

We have Lift-Off!!

As you may or may not have heard, the burning question recently has been - “HOW THE HECK DO I GET ON THE LITTLEBIGPLANET PUBLIC BETA!?!?”

Some of our friends in Europe found out this week and are still recovering. If you have been frequenting sites like GameInformer.com, GamePro, and GameSpot you might have scored a key already or are waiting to hear back. Even our friends at G4 are in the mix.

Where will this elusive beta strike next?

If I were a betting man, (and I am) I’d say it would be sure to hit more of your favorite gaming sites in the next few days. I’d be looking for sites that have been covering games for years. Staking out passionate gaming communities or locations online where you can view the latest gaming videos. Of course I would be surprised if the Public Beta didn’t show up in places where you’d expect to get all the latest LBP info and updates.

All I can say is we are super happy to give some of you a chance to get a sneak peak at what LittleBigPlanet is all about. I have officially stopped doing office work for the next few weeks in anticipation of all the levels you all are going to make. (I’m going to be too busy playing and building.) If you are one of the lucky ones who score a key, thank you in advance for participating and helping us get our servers ready for our launch on October 21st!

Be sure to refer to the details below once you get your Beta key. Good luck to all and happy hunting!

ps- Quick question, I know we announced all the cool pre-order goodies already but I’m wondering which one you are all going for….let’s say we have an on-going bet in the office. (Told you I was a betting man.)

Please note the following instructions below which will help you install the Public Beta voucher:

1) Public Beta Ends October 11th, 2008

2) You must use a consumer PLAYSTATION® 3 system that is connected to the internet.

3) You must have a PLAYSTATION®Network Account.

4) If you have previously redeemed a LBP voucher code, you must delete any old LBP data (along with save data and game data) and download this version
(go to Download History and redownload the new code).

5) This version does not require a DNS redirect and levels created here will be available for consumers at launch of the full title.

6) Please refrain from creating anything inappropriate, as we do have moderation in place and it may result in your account being suspended or banned.

Downloading the LittleBigPlanet Public Beta.
After you have signed in with your PLAYSTATION Network Account, select [Account Management] on the XMB interface located under the ‘PLAYSTATION Network’ tab, then select [Transaction Management] and click on the option ‘Redeem PLAYSTATION Network Card or Promotion Code’. Enter the following unique code to start the download of LittleBigPlanet.

If you’ve read updated (and glowing) impressions of Resistance 2 this week, it’s down to the fact that Insomniac Games demonstrated all 3 modes (campaign, online co-op, competitive multiplayer) in LA and New York over the past few days.

I’ll leave the commentary to the professionals, but with the open beta on the horizon, I asked a few questions on behalf of those of you who haven’t yet gone hands-on with the beta (you know, 99.98% of you).

In this video, Insomniac’s James Stevenson explains what’s going into R2 during these final few weeks, what to expect in the upcoming public beta, and why your input is still very important, even in the late stages of development.

You heard him, the Insom team will be talking community soon, look for more details here.