Most Recent: PS3

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Dissected

Posted on April 12, 2011 by John Scalzo

The first episode of Mortal Kombat: Legacy is here and it’s packed full of references to the rest of the Mortal Kombat franchise. You can watch it again above, or you can hit the jump to learn all of the episode’s juicy secrets.

Just a warning, SPOILERS follow. (more…)

Posted in Etcetera, Features, PS3, Top Story, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

Hyperdimension Neptunia sequel confirmed

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

A couple weeks ago, Compile Heart opened a teaser site, with a countdown set to finish up in about 38 hours as of this writing. Many guessed it would be the sequel to Hyperdimension Neptunia, and they were correct!

Titled Neptune mk-II, the game will feature upgraded graphics and a four party battle system. Confirmed characters include Uni, Rom & Ram, and Nepgear, which suggest the game will parody handheld consoles this time, if it is indeed an allusion to Sega’s Game Gear.

The series will stay PlayStation 3 exclusive and players will be able to choose from standard and limited editions. Andriasang is citing different sources pointing towards an August or September release date.

Posted in News, PS3 | Tagged

First Mortal Kombat: Legacy episode is now available

Posted on April 12, 2011 by John Scalzo

It started as Kevin Tancharoen’s longshot pitch to Warner Bros. to allow him to direct a new movie based on the Mortal Kombat franchise. While Warners wasn’t interested in that, they did tap the director to create a series of nine webisodes to fill in the gaps of what transpires before the tournament.

After a long wait, the first episode of Mortal Kombat: Legacy is finally available and Tancharoen introduces us to Jax (Michael Jai White), Stryker (Tahmoh Penikett) and Sonya Blade (Jeri Ryan) as they infiltrate a Black Dragon hideout looking for Kano (Darren Shahlavi).

While Legacy is clearly a low budget affar, Tancharoen fills the screen with the same style he displayed in Mortal Kombat: Rebirth. There are also plenty of subtle allusions to future events in the franchise’s canon, so we’re sure to be in for a wild ride.

Machinima will release the second episode featuring the kombatants next week, the same day as the Mortal Kombat reboot launches for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

Jeff Rubenstein beats an entire level of SOCOM 4 without firing a single shot

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

SOCOM has always been known as the “thinking man’s shooter.” Not only do you move with a squad of units, you actually get to direct their actions, coordinating how you tackle each area. You can do most of the heavy lifting yourself and have your allies support you or command the flow of combat, safe from enemy fire. The SOCOM 4: US Navy SEALs video above highlights the silver trophy, “Expert Tactician,” where you have to complete an entire level using only your teammates to take down the enemy. Jeff Rubenstein and Sid Shuman of the PlayStation Blog take on the beach skirmish of mission five of the single player campaign, Benefaction. While Sid gets his hands dirty, Jeff, who kind of looks like the OpsCom from the game, impressively attains the Expert Tactician trophy.

Players can get more in touch with their tactical side next week when SOCOM 4 launches for PlayStation 3 on April 19.

Posted in News, PS3 |

Putting the past behind us: Sony and George Hotz reach a settlement

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

The PlayStation Blog has released a joint statement from Sony Computer Entertainment America and George “GeoHot” Hotz that the two parties in the recent litigation have settled their dispute out of court. The statement only discloses that Hotz has consented to a permanent injunction, presumably preventing him from further tinkering with the PS3’s security. Sony claimed it only sought to protect its intellectual property and maintain a secure environment for its consumers. Hotz commented, “It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier,” and that he’s happy to have the litigation behind him. The statement also puts forth that Hotz has not been involved in the recent attacks on the PlayStation Network and SCEA’s websites.

Hotz was trying to have the lawsuit dismissed, claiming that California did not have personal jurisdiction over him. That argument was made moot by the agreement all PSN users must consent to, which destroys any reasonable expectation that he could not be hailed to California courts.

Now that one of the two lawsuits they took action over has been taken care of, it’ll be interesting to see what “hacktivist” group Anonymous’ next move is.

Posted in News, PS3, PSP, Vita |

Resistance 3 early beta access included with SOCOM 4

Posted on April 9, 2011 by John Scalzo

Sony keeps the beta train rolling with the announcement that gamers who purchase SOCOM 4: US Navy SEALs will receive early access to the Resistance 3 public beta. Sony seems to be knitting some kind of “beta chain” for their major 2011 releases as early access to the SOCOM 4 beta (which is going on right now) was included with copies of Killzone 3.

Both the regular version and the Full Deployment Edition of SOCOM 4 will include a voucher for beta access. And gamers can get their hands on either when the game is released on April 19.

Sony has promised that more details on the Resistance 3 beta program will be released soon.

Posted in News, PS3 | Tagged ,

New Releases: Michael Jackson The Experience, Patapon 3, Rio, More

Posted on April 9, 2011 by John Scalzo

Next week will be one of the biggest weeks for new releases this year, but that doesn’t mean publishers are taking this week off. Instead, they’ve put together quite possibly the oddest combination of games I’ve ever seen.

First up is the PS3 (with Move) and Xbox 360 (with Kinect) versions of Michael Jackson: The Experience. The King of Pop will be strutting through your living room with several new songs and a “Singing Mode.” If you need to feel the rhythm on the go, Sony will release the PSP rhythm game Patapon 3 this week as well.

Two big games for the kids will be in stores this week, a video game adaptation of the movie Rio (DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) and the uDraw-powered SpongeBob SquigglePants (Wii).

Finally, we have two games that start with D and have been released for other platforms before: Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga (Xbox 360 this week, previously on the PC) and Dance Dance Revolution (Xbox 360 this week, previously on the PS3 and Wii).

The full list of the rest of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in DS, News, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged , , ,

SCEA CEO blasts Nintendo, calls DS a “babysitting tool”

Posted on April 8, 2011 by John Scalzo

Jack Tretton is the President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America. If his recent interview with Fortune is anything to go by, he’s also horribly out of touch with how the PlayStation family’s fortunes are faring in the marketplace.

Tretton started off slow, knocking the Wii and Xbox 360 for their optional storage solutions and motion gaming peripherals (I guess the PlayStation Move is beyond that kind of criticism):

“They’re starting to run out of steam now in terms of continuing to be relevant in 2011 and beyond,” [Tretton] says. “I mean, you’ve gotta be kidding me. Why would I buy a gaming system without a hard drive in it? How does this thing scale? Motion gaming is cute, but if I can only wave my arms six inches, how does this really feel like I’m doing true accurate motion gaming?”

Tretton unleashed his true ire on the DS, playing the dreaded “kiddie” card and resorting to namecalling when referring to adult DS owners… (more…)

Posted in DS, News, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360 |