via Eurogamer


EA founder Trip Hawkins has questioned the goals of PlayStation Home - suggesting that going after a Second Life- or World of Warcraft-sized audience would be a bit silly and probably result in custard pie on face.


PlayStation Home, the online virtual world for PS3 owners, should launch into open beta before the end of the year. Hopefully that means quite soon.

It's been rather a long wait and Home's release date has been pushed back on numerous occasions.

Sony's still coy on exactly when the open beta will begin, but has invited hundreds of thousands of community members into the closed testing so far.

We'll keep you posted.ally tell yet about the various announcements [Sony has] made about online and what they're doing so far, I can't tell whether they're going more towards this mass market idea - the way I'm describing this 'omni-market' - or if they're being lured into essentially trying to compete with Warcraft or Second Life," Trip Hawkins told Hatchet Job.

"My own personal opinion is: if Sony makes Home feel too much like a [World of] Warcraft environment, they're just never going to create the kind of audience size that you're going to see Nintendo and Microsoft create.

"Because clearly Nintendo is orientated towards the mass audience, and even Microsoft has learnt a lot of valuable lessons from things like Xbox Live Arcade," he added.

PlayStation Home, the online virtual world for PS3 owners, should launch into open beta before the end of the year. Hopefully that means quite soon.

It's been rather a long wait and Home's release date has been pushed back on numerous occasions.

Sony's still coy on exactly when the open beta will begin, but has invited hundreds of thousands of community members into the closed testing so far.

We'll keep you posted. ...

via Eurogamer


Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata has said around 800,000 Wii consoles were sold over the Thanksgiving weekend in the US.

That's an absolutely outrageous number, and more than double the 350,000 figure from last year.


He went on to say DS sales were up by around 20 per cent - both of which should cement Nintendo at the top of the NPD pile for November. Those figures should be released very soon.

The upshot is many shops reporting to be out of Wii stock, a situation Nintendo had predicted but apparently not remedied.

These impressive figures follow word that the Nintendo Wii was the most searched for product on the whole of eBay on Black Friday, the nationwide shopping day that follows Thanksgiving. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Starbreeze has divulged details on Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena's unique multiplayer modes, including a poo-your-pants 'Pitch Black' game set, yes, in the dark.

Spilled in the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine US, Riddick's new online modes include the obligatory 12-player deathmatch and capture the flag modes, as well as an interesting Butcher Bay Riot game that pitches three teams of four against each other.

Teams include guards, mercenaries and prisoners, each tasked with fighting their way to and activating a central power cell. Although each team apparently plays the same, the implementation of a Counter-Strike-style weapon purchase system sounds fun - and at least it's not Halo 3 with Vin Diesels.

As we mentioned though the most exciting mode revealed is Pitch Black, which puts combatants in a big dark arena and makes one of them a fast-moving, ultra blade-wielding Riddick - the others are just grunts with guns and flashlights. Good luck.

If the grunts can manage to spot and kill Riddick - who can see clearly in the dark, by the way - they can become Riddick in the next round. This is going to be shit scary, and you know it.

20 maps are planned for the final game, which is out early next year. ...

via Eurogamer


Atari president and former Sony studio boss Phil Harrison has heaped praise on PlayStation Home, telling Eurogamer that his former company has "brilliantly realised their ambitions".

Harrison, speaking earlier this week at the Atari Live event, revealed that he was on the beta for the PS3 virtual world, and predicted that Sony "will have a very successful platform" with the project that was created under his stewardship.

Sony has said the open beta for the ambitious network service will launch this year.

Harrison, who joined Atari in March after leaving his high-profile position as PlayStation creative lead, also revealed he had been playing around with the recently updated Xbox dashboard.

...

via Computer and Video Games


EA's released a movie showing off the new maps that'll be released for Mirror's Edge "late" next month.

The DLC, which will be available for all three editions of the game (the PC one was dated yesterday), will see you challenged with getting the fastest times on nine races across seven "all-new and totally redesigned" time trial maps.

It'll cost 800 Microsoft Points on 360 (no prices for other formats yet), while PS3 Mirror's Edge owners will get the option to download an exclusive extra map for free.

If you're bang into Mirror's Edge, you may want to check out the posh music vid below.


Trailer and screenshots at CVG ...

via Eurogamer


EA has decided NASCAR racing will be more Wii-friendly in a cutesy Kart-racing style, a bit like that other quite popular game. And so NASCAR Kart Racing has been born, with a February release date over the water to the west.

In NKR, you can take the wheel as a noted NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver and roar around unlikely landscapes, such as rocky cliffs with falling boulders, deserts and junkyards. Official NASCAR circuits will make the cut, too.

There are 10 original animated characters to pick from, and each has different attributes that affect performance.

Defeating rivals and challenges on tracks is the aim of the single-player game, but there's split-screen multiplayer for four people so mum and dad and dog and cat can get involved.

We've a video of NASCAR Kart Racing over on Eurogamer TV, plus a gallery peppered with the first, slightly bland, shots.


Trailer
Screenshots ...

via Joystiq


If manic shooting's your thing (and why wouldn't it be?), then you may want to keep your sights pointed at Astro Tripper, the latest from Mutant Storm dev PopPom Games. The game is set to blast a hole right through Europe's PSN on December 11, with a US release promised to follow.

No price has been announced for the game, which is based on PomPom's 2001 release, Space Tripper (itself an homage to Defender). What we do know is that the side-scrolling shmup will feature Trophies, unlockables and will likely melt your feeble eyes with its 1080p graphics. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Sony will release Guerrilla Games' highly anticipated FPS Killzone 2 on February 27 2009 in the States.


We've been on the phone to Sony UK this morning who told us that it's "targeting a similar timeframe in the PAL regions", with specific launch dates to be "communicated at a later date".

A February 17 release date had previously been rumoured, but at least now we know it'll definitely be out in the next three months, in the States at least.

Now all the game has to do is justify the hype, which will be no easy task.

The news was first reported on TV show X-Play, which also revealed two new weapons, the Bolt Gun and the Flamethrower, which can be seen in a video here. ...

via Eurogamer


GTI Club + Rally Cote D'Azur takes a bow on PlayStation Network today along with a demo of LEGO Batman and add-ons for the likes of Race Driver: GRID and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Konami's spirited remake of the arcade machine of the same name nicks the gameplay and splatters it lovingly across more up to date graphics in a way that made us quite tingly in our 7/10 review, which should not be seen as too off-putting. We're looking forward to more tracks and other content.

Meanwhile, there's another couple of PSone games (Red Alert Retaliation and Jet Rider - classics, we're sure you'll agree) and of course the requisite downloadables for Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band.

PS3 Games

• Brain Challenge (GBP 3.99 / EUR 4.99)
• GTI Club + Rally Cote D'Azur (GBP 9.99 / EUR 12.99)

PSone games on PS3/PSP Store

• Command & Conquer: Red Alert Retaliation (GBP 3.99 / EUR 4.99)
• Jet Rider (GBP 3.99 / EUR 4.99)

PS3 Demos

• LEGO Batman (free)

PS3 Add-ons

• LittleBigPlanet - Kabuki Actor costume (free)
• Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm - Storm Pack 2 (free)
• Race Driver GRID 8-Ball Pack (GBP 4.99 / EUR 6.28)
• Soul Calibur IV - Customisation Equipment 6 (GBP 0.79 / EUR 0.99)
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Costume Pack 2 (GBP 3.99 / EUR 4.99)
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Jedi Temple Mission Pack (GBP 7.99 / EUR 9.99)

PS3 Guitar Hero World Stuff stuff

• The Smashing Pumpkins - "1979" (GBP 1.49 / EUR 1.99)
• The Smashing Pumpkins - "G.L.O.W." (GBP 1.49 / EUR 1.99)
• The Smashing Pumpkins - "The Everlasting Gaze" (GBP 1.49 / EUR 1.99)
• The Smashing Pumpkins Track Pack (GBP 4.39 / EUR 5.49)

PS3 Rock Band stuff

• Children of Bodom - "Are You Dead Yet" (GBP 0.59 / EUR 0.79)
• Finley - "Tutto E' Possible" (GBP 0.59 / EUR 0.79)
• Miranda Cosgrove - "Headphones On" (free)
• Naked Brothers Band - "Body I Occupy" (GBP 0.59 / EUR 0.79)
• Naked Brothers Band - "I Don't Want to Go to School" (GBP 0.59 / EUR 0.79)
• Platero y Tu - "Hay Poco Rock N Roll" (GBP 0.59 / EUR 0.79)
• Squeeze - "Tempted" (GBP 0.59 / EUR 0.79)
• Tokio Hotel - "Ready, Set, Go" (GBP 0.59 / EUR 0.79)
• The All-American Rejects - "Real World" (GBP 0.59 / EUR 0.79)

...