Look, we’re well aware that you’re already fantasizing about the PlayStation 4, but how do you think that makes your existing PS3 feel? (Hint: Not awesome.) For those still focused on remaining in the here and now, Netflix has issued an update for its PS3 Player that “is more consistent with the Netflix player on the web as well as [its] mobile and tablet applications.” The key feature in this update is the ability to easily manage your audio and subtitle selections; before, you had to hop out of whatever you were watching in order to tweak those elements, but now you can make said changes while the content is still on screen. There have also been improvements made in the “trickplay” mode mode when scanning forward or reverse in play mode — essentially, these images now load a lot faster, which ought to keep your blood pressure at a safe level. The update is out now for PS3 users, and should be hitting select Smart TVs and Blu-ray Disc players soon.
Netflix has released an update for its PlayStation 3 app that brings a few minor features, yet they could prove incredibly useful for some users. First off, the UI received a makeover, although it simply looks like the web and mobile versions of Netflix in order to make the PS3 app more uniform with the rest of the app lineup. Also, the update comes with easier access to audio and subtitle settings, as well as increased performance.
The audio and subtitle options can now be accessed from within the video player, meaning that you don’t have to return to the main menu in order to adjust these settings. Plus, accessing these options from within the video player while watching a show will bring up catered settings for that particular show, including available languages and surround sound options.
The video player has also been updated to look more like the web and mobile versions, although it keeps some of the same PS3 aesthetic. The video player will now be much more reminiscent of other platforms with Netflix, and PlayStation 3 users should be able to pick up another device without a huge learning curve getting in the way.
Today’s PS3 update also includes improvements for “trickplay” mode, which is that fancy series of screenshots you get when you want to skip ahead or backward in a show. This time around, the screenshots appear much quicker on the screen, allowing users to fast-forward or rewind a show at a much quicker pace than before, although we would still love the option to automatically skip opening credits for a TV show that happens after the cold open, but it seems we’ll still be dreaming about that.
Netflix streaming first hit the PlayStation 3 back in November 2009, and it recently became the number one streaming device for Netflix, where Sony’s gaming console had more Netflix users than any other platform that Netflix in on, including the Xbox 360, so it’s really no surprise that the streaming company is giving extra attention to the PS3.
The development team at Ubisoft have been working on the game Watch Dogs for an unusually long time. This hacker-themed game has been in development for 4.5 years, long enough for the original concept to have gotten so close to real life that its developers have been able to easily consult with a team of real-world security experts at Kaspersky Lab, bringing the game to a place where, at release, it wont be impossible to imagine its action as a real-world situation.
Senior Producer Dominic Guay spoke at a preview of the game this week in San Francisco, letting it be known that the contents could be seen as a warning as much as a normal, every day third-person thriller. Here the player will be working as Pearce, a hacker living in a futuristic Chicago blanketed with a “Smart City” installation that can access essentially any information wirelessly.
What’s more, this new-age Chicago’s smart system doesn’t just work with and control public service systems, it helps police hunt down and capture bad guys. Using systems like the very real SpotShotter, as pointed out by Venture Beat (they also attending this San Francisco preview of the game), the in-game police can track gunshots by triangulating the sounds with city-wide sound recorders.
“The problem is, if you start spying on people in every aspect of their lives, it becomes addictive. hat if you see a woman being mugged in a back alley or a man being extorted? It becomes hard to do nothing.” – Dominic Guay
The game’s hero Pearce will be aiming at and avoiding not only the police, but corrupt 3rd party users and gangs, each of them also taking advantage of the connectedness of the city and its citizens.
Much in the same way Batman is able to hone in on sound signals throughout a city by tapping in to the cellphone signals of its citizens, here too anyone with access will be able to hear all. Batman’s ability to do this appears in the movie The Dark Knight as well as in the video game Batman: Arkham City. In Watch Dogs, this sound system is part of the larger ctOS (City Operating System).
Helping to advance the realism of the game to a point that’s essentially creepy, Kaspersy Lab has been confirmed to be working with the developers of this game in its last phases. Speaking at the game preview this week with Joystiq, Guay made their involvement clear:
“We’re working with Kaspersky Lab, a big security firm. They have really hardcore experts there on hacking. We send them some of our designs and we ask them feedback on it, and it’s interesting to see what gets back. Sometimes they say, ‘Yeah, that’s possible, but change that word,’ or, ‘That’s not the way it works.’” – Dominic Guay
It’s also become clear that this game will not be restricted to your gaming console – it’ll not just be a game you play on Xbox 360, PC, Xbox 720, PlayStation 4, and the rest. Instead you’ll have gameplay expansion available on smartphone systems and on tablets as well. This game will, like the hero of the game, be played on the move, as well.
Expect Watch Dogs to be solidified with detail galore by the time of its final release later this year. At the moment it would appear that Watch Dogs will be set for a November 22nd release date and will be appearing on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC at the start.
It took several years for Sony’s PlayStation 3 console to finally turn a profit, but the company says that the PlayStation 4 won’t be the same way. Sony CFO Masaru Kato said that the company won’t experience “a major loss” with the PS4 like they did with the previous-generation console, claiming that much of the work has already been done.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Kato says that much of the chip development for the PS4 has already been in place, whereas the PS3 required all-new development processes for the console’s chip. The PS4 will still see a new chip (and development is still happening for that), but Kato says that many existing technologies will be implemented in the PS4, cutting down on R&D costs.
Sony turned its first profitable year since 2008, but its PlayStation division was down during the 12-month period. Sales were down 12.2%, with operating income down a staggering 94% to just $18 million for the year. However, Kato says that income is expected to “increase significantly” for the company, with the PS4′s launch coming later this year.
Operating income is another story, though, as Kato expects it to be stagnant year-over-year due to R&D and marketing costs for the new and upcoming console. However, the PS4 is expected to turn a profit in a shorter amount of time than the PS3, which took several years before the console was finally in the black for Sony.
The last time gamers were treated to a Wolfenstein game it was back in 2009 when Activision published its sequel to Return to Castle Wolfenstein, simply called Wolfenstein. It looks like a new game will soon be upon us as Bethesda is announcing Wolfenstein: The New Order is headed our way later this year.
Wolfenstein: The New Order is being developed by MachineGames, which is a studio comprised of former founding members of Starbreeze Studios, a studio that developer The Darkness, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assualt on Dark Athena and Syndicate. The game will be a re-imagining of the Wolfenstein franchise and is said to offer players a “gripping and dramatic experience.” A teaser trailer was also released today showing William “B.J.” Blazkowicz taking on an army of Nazi-controller robots in what looks to be an alternate time that may have resulted in the Nazi threat continuing through history. (more…)
Ever since the box art for what seemed to be the next Call of Duty game, Call of Duty: Ghosts, appeared on the Internet last week, we’ve been hearing little bits of info with an expected unveiling of the game happening today. It looks like that’s exactly what is happening as Activision is announcing Call of Duty: Ghosts today.
Call of Duty: Ghosts is being developed by long-time Call of Duty franchise developer, Infinity Ward, and is expected to be the first Call of Duty title that is being made available on next-generation consoles as well as the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on November 5. According to the press release issued today, Call of Duty: Ghosts “ushers in the next generation of the franchise” by delivering “a riveting all-new gameplay experience built on an entirely new story, setting and cast of characters, all powered by a new, next generation Call of Duty engine.” (more…)
Techland, the developer of the popular PC titles Dead Island and Call of Juarez, has officially confirmed that the next title they’re working on will be called Hellraid. The game will be a first-person perspective slasher that you can choose play solo or play with your friends. Techland began work on the game last year under the codename “Project Hell”, but they decided that they needed to give their child a real name.
Hellraid is described as more than just a normal hack-and-slash game, but hey those can be fun too. Techland describes the game as having an “entirely new level of hack & slash action”, where players will have to be precise with their actions, and time out their parries, blocks and attacks. As you advance in the game, you will be able to develop new skills, craft new weapons, and more to help with your journey.
While you can choose to play Hellraid entirely in single-player mode, Techland encourages players to play through the game in multiplayer mode. You can team up with 3 other people to make the game more fun. To ensure this, Techland added “an element of coopetition”, where even though players are helping each other, they are also competing with each other to earn the most points and special rewards offered in multiplayer mode.
Techland hasn’t announced an official release date for Hellraid, but it did say that the game will be available for the PC, PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360 sometime this year. The developer also promises that in the coming weeks, it will be releasing tidbits of information regarding Hellraid and what its all about. There’s no word yet whether or not the game will be heading to the Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation 4, or the next-gen Xbox.
During last year’s E3, Quantic Dream revealed its next upcoming game, Beyond: Two Souls. Since then, we haven’t heard a lot about the game which stars Ellen Page and Williem Dafoe, but Sony has released a gameplay trailer that we know you’re going to want to sit back and watch.
The 35-minute gameplay demo of Beyond: Two Souls was revealed as part of a two hour-long panel this weekend during the Tribeca Film Festival, which had both Page and the game’s director David Cage sharing some information in regards to the game to those who attended the event. The gameplay demo was chosen carefully as a way “to avoid many of the major, major spoilers” in the game, according to The PlayStation blog. (more…)
Capcom has announced that Resident Evil: Revelations will be available as a demo to all platforms sometime soon. It wasn’t able to release an exact date, however, it should be coming out before the game launches for the PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii U come May 21st (May 24th in Europe). The demo will be available for download through the platforms’ online shops.
Resident Evil: Revelations was originally released on the Nintendo 3DS, and it has been the first Resident Evil game in quite some time that has generated mostly positive reviews from critics and gamers alike. The game adopts the same gameplay style as Resident Evil 4/5, however, it also includes classic aspects of the Resident Evil series, such as puzzles. It also brings back the horror aspect to the game, which seemed non-existent in the recent Resident Evil releases.
The game has done so well on the Nintendo 3DS, with retail sites like Amazon having a 5/5 star user rating for the game, that Capcom decided it needed to capitalize on its success. It announced back in January that it would be porting the game to all of the current-gen consoles as well as the PC. It would improve the graphics, add a trophy system, implement a co-op mode for the main campaign, and more.
With the demo, gamers will be able to test out the game before they purchase it, which is what many gamers would have loved to do with Resident Evil 6 before they spent their money on it. Currently, the demo is speculated to be held-up due to the certification process it needs for each platform, but as soon as that’s done you’ll be on your way to navigating through the horrors of the Queen Zenobia.
Before XCOM: Enemy Unknown was made available on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as a turn-based strategy game, it was supposed to be a first-person shooter. The XCOM shooter mysteriously disappeared with its existence not even acknowledged by 2K Games of Firaxis, but today, both companies have announced its FPS XCOM game will finally be made available later this year.
The game will be called The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and will take place in 1962 back when John F. Kennedy was in the White House and will play as the origin story for the modern XCOM initiative, which we’re sure by now you’re aware is what we experienced in XCOM: Enemy Unknown. In XCOM Declassified, players will assume the role of Special Agent William Carter as he takes customizable agents into the field. Gameplay will be in real-time, which is a departure for the series since its previous games have been turn-based, and the death of squad mates will still be permanent. (more…)
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