'PlayStation3' Category

After months of intense talks, speculations, accusations and countless surveys, Sony’s main hope to revitalize its business and millions of gamers’ hope for true next generation gaming is finally here, well, in Japan at least. Japanese gaming websites has been busy reporting the long lines around major electronic stores and the faces of those lucky enough to actually buy a PS3.

Shibuya Tsutaya

The location where Microsoft launch Xbox 360 almost a year ago sees only 300 PS3 available. That didn’t stop long line around the building and the staffs from putting up a celebration of sort, with a small 60 seconds countdown from 6:59am and fire crackers sound when the countdown reach 0.

Shinjuku’s Yodobashi Camera

Certainly the location where most of the media focus is on as SCEI president Ken Kutaragi made a late appearance at the store.

Umeda’s Yodobashi Camera (Osaka)

Heavy rain did not stop the spirit of PlayStation for many and 1000 units of PS3 is available, with a gamer from Nara being the first in the line, interestingly he bought the console without buying a game, apparently waiting for RPG heavy weights Final Fantasy XIII and Dragon Quest to come out.

Yurakucho BIC Camera (Tokyo)

SCEI president Ken Kutaragi was here to hand out the first console and a huge crowd was seen here as gamers push their way into the store. The 1,200 consoles were sold out in just 30 minutes.

While Japanese gamers may get their PS3 early, there were only five games to choose from on Day 1. And Sony will have new PS3 games out nearly every week from Nov 11 until the end of the year, although there are only two more games that’s expected to be released in November, and both are Mahjong games. December will see Armored Core 4, Need For Speed Carbon, Sonic the Hedgehog, Gran Turismo HD and six PlayStation Network games including Blast Factor, flOw and Kazuo (or Sudoku).

Read the rest of this entry »

Sony Japan has announced that both PS3 and PSP firmware will be updated this Saturday when the PlayStation goes on sale in Japan. Apparently the original firmware (or officially System Software Version 1.00) will not be able to access PlayStation Network, the place where users can get their online content. This promotes the system to Version 1.10 and other updates are not clear at this point.

On the other hand, the PSP, which has received plenty of updates to its firmware so far, will move to version 3.00 at end of November to make it compatible to the PS3. Among the new functions will be to use PSP as a remote media player for the PS3 (it worth noting that this function is only available for the 60Gb models) and play PSP games that has been downloaded from the new PlayStation Store.

Heavily compared to Xbox 360’s Geometry Wars and Mutant Storm Reloaded, Bluepoint Games’ Blast Factor is a simple shooting game where players uses the left analog stick to move around and right analog stick to shoot waves after waves of enemies. It also make use of the SIXAXIS controller, by swinging it, waves of ripples will keep enemies floating away from your ship.

Blast Factor should be available as a downloadable game from the PlayStation Store on the first day in the US. And now Sony Japan has confirmed that the game will be available on Day 1 (Nov 11) for 840Yen (around US$7). Making it the first PlayStation Store game to get a price. Also revealed are the disk space required for the download, which is around 95Mb. Find out more information on Blast Factor here.

To coincide with the launch of PlayStation 3 in Japan this Saturday, Japanese top gaming mag Famitsu will publish it first issue of Famitsu PS3 the day before. The first issue will give an in depth analysis of the system and the Blu-ray Disc, on top of the usual game scoops and strategy guides. Among the games covered will be Final Fantasy XIII, Metal Gear Solid 4 and all the launch titles. Owners of the inaugural issue will also get goodies with Minna no Golf 5 (Hot Shots Golf 5 in US) theme.

No console launch can go without a racing game and Ridge Racer has always been there. The 7th in the series for the PlayStation 3 looks promising with some of the most beautiful graphics among the launch games. Dengeki Online has new details and screenshots on the new cars and customization. Click here for more images. Via Dengeki Online.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sony launches what seems to be its early waves of PlayStation 3 marketing, PLAYB3YOND.com was opened to the public last week with a Flash animation that contains symbols of the PS controller’s face buttons. It’s not long before the viral shows it’s effects with forum visitors speculating, comparing it with an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) I love bees or dismiss it as one viral campaign too many.

However, it’s not long before the codes were cracked and the 26 symbols represent a letters each, visitors combine some of the symbols to form words like music, king and chimera to get exclusive content on upcoming PS3 games. Although nothing new can be found here, the videos and wallpapers are in excellent quality if you don’t mind the difficult navigation, perhaps keyboard input will be available later? Playsyde and British Gaming Blog has the videos in more accessible forms.

Use the picture above to type out the following words.

1. factorfive - Lair 2-minute trailer
2. fire - Lair exclusive gameplay footage
3. fangs - Lair exclusive gameplay footage
4. king - Heavenly Sword exclusive wallpaper
5. nariko - Heavenly Sword exclusive wallpaper
6. andyserkis - Heavenly Sword 1-minute game trailer
7. mayday - Warhawk exclusive wallpaper
8. dogfight - Warhawk exclusive gameplay footage
9. machone - Warhawk soundtrack
10. tedprice - Resistance behind the scenes interview
11. chimera - Resistance exclusive wallpaper
12. nathanhale - Resistance behind the scenes interview
13. yoshitsune- Genji exclusive gameplay footage
14. music - Genji soundtrack
15. heishi - Genji exclusive wallpaper
16. evolutionstudios - Motorstorm trailer with voice-over
17. dust - Motorstorm exclusive wallpaper
18. monumentvalley - Motorstorm exclusive wallpaper

More at British Gaming Blog, NeoGAF, Kotaku, QJ.NET and PS3Blog.net.

Announced just before Tokyo Game Show 2006, Shirokishi Monogatari, or White Knight Story, is another massive looking RPG by the legendary developers of Dragon Quest VIII and Rogue Galaxy, Level-5. A trailer was shown during TGS 2006 and if you haven’t seen it, please click here to get a look into what next-generation RPG looks like.

Japanese gaming website Dengeki Online have posted a lot of screenshots and concept artworks of the PlayStation 3 game. Click here for more pictures or visit the game profiles for more information on Shirokishi Monogatari.

Read the rest of this entry »

Nine PlayStation 3 games for Japan are getting their dates and prices today, according to a list published by Famitsu. The prices range from 5040 Yen (US$43) to 8190 Yen (US$70) with Armored Core 4 being the most expensive PS3 game so far. Six of the games are confirmed for the Japanese launch, they are Resistance: Fall of Man, Genji: Days of the Blade, Ridge Racer 7, Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight, Miyazato San Kyoudai Naizou Sega Golf Club and Mahjong Kakutou Ku-Ra-Bu.

The pricing is almost identical with PS2 or Xbox 360 games, which typically costs around 7000 Yen in Japan. Sony’s online store SonyStyle already revealed prices for PS3 games in the US earlier at US$59.99. Source: Famitsu.

After a couple of denials, it appears that the best selling Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is coming to the PlayStation 3 after all. US gaming website 1UP reports that its magazine Official PlayStation Magazine will have the title on its cover and an exclusive first look. The website also posted the first three screenshots of the role-playing game. A PSP version of the game is also in development and is titled Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion which takes place in a completely different setting than the console version.