[QUOTE="S0lidSnake"]

Sony is giving away 4 free games on facebook. You will have to share stuff on facebook but i set it to show just for my newsfeed and i didnt even have to sign up for twitter.

http://www.facebook.com/SonyPlaystation?sk=app_538718762805824

[/QUOTE]

Too bad I'm the one guy in the world without Facebook.

[QUOTE="burgeg"]

So that Killzone trailer looked friggin awesome! Seriously, wow. If you would have told me that was PS3 footage I'd have believed you. Also, Tearaway has a new trailer and apparently there will be previews hitting the web later today.

[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the info.

Here's a link to the new Tearaway trailer. Looks like crazy fun. I love the stick your fingers into the world trick. As I've said before, I love LBP, but if MM wants to produce similarly innovative games rather than sequels, I'm fine with that.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/01/30/tearaway-welcome-to-sogport/

Also, while I'm sure most people reading this thread have seen the trailer by now, here is a link to the KZ trailer. Good stuff (my favorite bit is the headshot at the 19 second mark).

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/01/30/killzone-mercenary-hits-ps-vita-september-17th-new-trailer-and-screens/

I'll post previews of both games (and anything else Vita related) throughout the day, but if someone else does it, my feelings won't be hurt.

[QUOTE="burgeg"]

Here's a 6 minute gameplay vid of Killzone. Shows off the different weapons and has a narrator in the video. Looks really cool. Some of it is just the same as the new trailer, but a good amount is new footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOy5ztkZr3c

[/QUOTE]

I really liked the bit where the player took out the drop ship before the soldiers it was carrying jumped out. Also, while all the close range kills are brutal, the Mantis drone's hole punch attack is remarkable not just because its brutal, but efficient (like how one would expect a robot to kill). The ability to repeatedly play through missions in action or stealth mode and use the range of weapons shown in the trailer will hopefully make the SP very replayable.

[QUOTE="Jehuty08"]

XSEED announced localization for Ys Celcetica (and valhalla knights 3)!

[/QUOTE]

I haven't played an Ys game since Ys 1 and 2, but Celcetica looked like it has some great albeit slightly fuzzy action (its come a looong way since the first two games).

A remake of well regarded indie strategy game Frozen Synapse is hitting the PS3 and the PSV courtesy of Double Eleven (who essentially served as the programmers for LBP Vita while Tarsier handled the game design).

Below is a link to a review of (and a screenshot of) the original game and a explantion of what the remake will try to do (it sounds like the big change will be the graphics though no screenshots have been shown).

http://www.gamespot.com/frozen-synapse/reviews/frozen-synapse-review-6327044/

Frozen Synapse is a turn-based game with a distinctly tactical focus and thrilling one-versus-one combat. It feels a lot like chess but with rocket launchers. Unlike the traditional back and forth of other turn-based games, Frozen Synapse's turns play out simultaneously in five seconds of real-time action. There are only a handful of units, each with a specialized weapon and movement speed, but they are all equally deadly in the right circumstances. As a result, this game not only revolves around how many or what type of units you have, but also how you use them. Careful planning, shrewd tactics, and the ability to anticipate your opponent's next move are the keys to success, especially in multiplayer. Almost every match in multiplayer is a harrowing battle of wits and every victory leaves you feeling powerful and exhilarated. Although it doesn't have high production values, Frozen Synapse demonstrates that graphics don't matter when the gameplay is this gripping.

.......

Frozen Synapse is a great game, thanks to its elegant mechanics, the depth of its tactical gameplay, and the tension of trying to get into your opponent's head. Minor matchmaking issues and the occasional disadvantageous starting location are only minor blemishes on an otherwise engrossing experience. While some may find the visuals too Spartan, on the whole, they are a great fit and accentuate the game's unique tactical focus. Overall, Frozen Synapse is well worth its $25 price tag, and as an added bonus, purchasing it gets you an additional copy to give to a friend, which makes it one bargain you won't want to miss.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-02-01-frozen-synapse-tactics-announced-for-ps3-and-vita

What does that mean exactly? According to Double Eleven's official site, it will be redoing the art, though it's unclear what this new version will look like or how much it will be tampered with. Art director Demi Gounari merely stated, "our vision is to reinvent the game's aesthetics and interactivity in the same way that Mode7 reinvented strategy gaming with this title."

We also know that this enhanced version will keep the original's asynchronous multiplayer feature, so players can juggle multiple games between friends. "[Frozen Synapse's] revolutionary play style works exceptionally well in multiplayer, offering a whole new competitive model that is perfect for the Vita," the studio noted. "Users can play multiple games concurrently, making it unlike any other online experience on the platform."

have, but also how you use them. Careful planning, shrewd tactics, and the ability to anticipate your opponent's next move are the keys to success, especially in multiplayer. Almost every match in multiplayer is a harrowing battle of wits and every victory leaves you feeling powerful and exhilarated. Although it doesn't have high production values, Frozen Synapse demonstrates that graphics don't matter when the gameplay is this gripping.

Cubixx is this week's free PS Mobile (Vita) game. The last free game (a sliding block game) left me cold, but Cubixx is right up my alley and reminds me a bit of Patchwork Heroes. Cubixx is a game where the stage is a 3D cube and you beat the stage by avoiding enemies and cutting away pieces of it. The bigger the piece, the bigger the points. If enemies cross the lines you are cutting, you die (you have a couple lives) so one has to balance risk and reward.

This week's free PS Mobile game is Aqua Kitty Milk Mine Defender. The key word in the title is Defender, because as I said back when this game launched, this is a game heavy inspired by the classic of the same name. Very old school, very fun.

Rocketbirds, a gory sidescrolling shooter with a great art style, hits the PS Vita in the US next week (its been out in Asia for a couple months). Those who own the PS3 version get a discount on the PSV version as well as some minor bonus content. There is a 15 chapter regular campaign and a 10 chapter coop campaign (which can be played online). It sounds like the campaign of the PSV version has some new content in addition to revamped controls, but I'm hazy as to what since I've never played the original.

I'll post impressions next week.

In this game, youll take control of Hardboiled Chicken, the original Cock of War (a chicken so tough, he survived being boiled as a fetus), to lead the rebellion against the draconian penguin oppressors to overthrow their hold on Albatropolis! Its an old-school cinematic action-adventure set in the Rocketbirds universe, a world filled with some despicable and often violent birds.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/02/06/rocketbirds-for-ps-vita-launches-on-february-12th/

Here's an interview with the guys behind KZ Mercenary (developed by the guys who made the first LBP on the PSP). I hope they do the stealth well (better then stealth was handled in the jungle segment of KZ3).

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/02/04/killzone-mercenary-behind-the-scenes-interview-single-player-details/

PSB: What new gameplay mechanics can fans of the series expect?
PJ: The shop is the biggest one for us really the fact that you can go into a level kitted out however you want. You can then purchase new weapons as you go, to tailor the experience as you see fit.

Stealth is another big one we have light stealth in the game. If youre being quiet and using silenced weapons the AI will not pick up on you. If you kill a trooper and the body is left lying around and another enemy finds it, theyll come and hunt you down. Weve extended the AI to cater for additional play-styles.

Those are the big ones, but obviously the melee system now uses the touch interface. And outside of the core mechanics, I think the fact that were showing the Killzone universe from a different angle will appeal to core fans as they get to see the universe in a different light.

Very interesting interview with Media Molecule about the upcoming Tearaway. Since its such a massive interview, I'm posting two parts of it.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/02/06/piecing-together-the-weird-world-of-tearaway/

Myths and Legends

Alongside all those familiar woodland critters, Tearaways universe is also inhabited by a colorful cast of beasts taken straight of popular folklore including wendigos and mer-men. In general, the game seems to tip its hat to the folk-tale tradition at every turn.

I wanted to make sure that we didnt just have a paper world but we had our paper world, says Rex.

Weve deliberately tried to avoid a lot of the big gaming conventions the lava planet, the ice world and so on in part because they dont make any sense when you make them from paper anyway. So we tried to look at new themes that hadnt been visited as much in the past.

I really like Sogport because its this little island of paper surrounded by glue thats getting smaller as its inhabitants rip up the land and use up the resources. It felt like we could get a really nice little ecosystem running on this island in how these creatures play together and fight together.

----------

Folk Music

Just as it did in LittleBigPlanet, music and sound play a key role in building Tearaways quirky universe. In keeping with that aforementioned folklore feel, the games soundtrack takes its cues from traditional folk music. Check out the ruthlessly catchy number in the new trailer for reference.

The thinking behind that is again trying to tie in with the whole forgotten folklore feel, explains Rex.

We wanted to create music that felt like it came up from the soil, almost. The kind of music that the characters in the game might have created themselves.

And then we also juxtapose that with you playing the game as a godly being so when you get to have your big dramatic effects on the landscape of pushing your fingers into the game world, the audio ambience can be very ethereal and different from the more earthy music elsewhere in the game.

Nice looking screenshots of an upcoming game named Toukiden. The only reason I'm not excited yet is that it is from the Dynasty Warriors developers.

http://www.sonypsvitablog.com/2013/02/first-toukiden-screenshots/

A patent for a new model of the Vita with 4G and a HDMI port has been filed.

VG leaks speculates that a pricecut for the existing model is incoming (back in 2012 Sony stated the Vita would see a pricecut in 2013). Its too late for the Vita to garner meaningful support from retail developers in the West (not that Western developers are big on portables) but the Vita in Japan has a shot and was listed in a recent poll as the system the most respondents planned to buy (also in Japan the PSP still sells well and aside from Monster Hunter, the Vita has inherited a good chunk of the PSP's support).

So long as the US market is healthy enough to merit companies bring over games from Japan (I'd love to see a belated port of the brilliant looking PSP game Valkyria Chronicles 3 from Sega or someone like Atlus) and Sony's American and European branches make games like LBP, Tearaway (which I know will be awesome) and KZ (which I hope will be awesome) now and again, its all good.

http://www.vgleaks.com/rumor-new-psvita-model-arriving/

[QUOTE="burgeg"]

But I don't care about Japanese games.....well that's not completely true. There's some japanese made games I like, but they're still games aimed at the western audience. I don't like RPGS, and I absolutely despise JRPGs. It's all about the western support for me. If it's supposedly too late for the Vita to get good western support.....good lord. But PSP didn't have a problem getting good western support so why is it so hard to believe Vita western support won't pick up once the price drop comes and the system starts selling better?

[/QUOTE]

AC Liberation put up good numbers (600K) on the Vita, so hopefully Western developers won't complete write it off, but I strongly doubt the Vita is going to get the same level of third party support in the West that the PSP did in its first few years (nods towards the original GTA and Burnout games). Why? Because the console market is the focus of most core gamers in the US and Europe. In Japan portables are the focus so a lot of talented developers focus on portables.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/02/08/assassins-creed-iii-ac-vita-sell-huge-numbers

All that being said, If Sony were bright, they would give Rockstar a big pot of money to put GTA: San Andreas Stories on the Vita. Also, Sony seems to be good about reaching out to the (predominantly Western IMHO) indie market, so a lot of interesting if not big budget Western games should come the Vita's way.