Map of PSN activity. Notice only Japan and San Diego, CA are online during the outage. 05.14.2011 5 hours after initial announcement. 05.15.2011 24 hours after initianal announcement. 05.16.2011 72 hours after initial announcement. Greetings readers. Today I wanted to show you guys a very interesting map that indicates the PlayStation Network status throughout the world. As you know, the outage lasted 23 days and is now beginning to trickle back up since Saturday May 15th. A big thank you to my source over at Sony San Diego for providing the images. I apologize in advance for the small images, the bigger images are not available. But if you press the CTRL and the + key, you can zoom in and see a little bit of the map details.

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PlayStation Network Status Map – Then & Now

A new trailer for Dark Souls is here. Not only does it reveal giant bosses,environmental hazards and deadly enemies, the trailer also confirms an October release for the dark fantasy, role playing game. No other date was given besides the month. Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to Demon’s Souls, one of the best rpgs currently available for the PS3. Namco Bandai will publish the game in the West for both the PS3 and 360 while From Software handles it in Japan as a PS3 exclusive.

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New Dark Souls Trailer Confirms October Release

Recap Yep, another late one. I’m still trying to find time to do things, but between dealing with back pain and stressing out over other things, the days seem to go by in a flash. I’ve been spending most of my time on here lately helping around the community and working with some of you on a few things to help better the site. Anyway, Tosh has updated my title somewhat. As you know, I’ve been officially labeled as the Community Manager for a little while now. As of this week, I also have the position of Editor-in-Chief. Though, keep in mind, some articles will go through with an occasional error here and there, but I will fix errors if I come across them. If you find one, and I missed it, let me know and I will fix it . Now, as for what went on from the 13th to the 19th, and what stories stuck out. We got a few more videos from Luke’s visit to PAX East this year, which all include gameplay. Despite not being able to record it, he also managed to check out Battlefield 3, which is sure to blow everyone’s mind. Darrin managed to go to SXSW, which happened during PAX, and didn’t let us know (so we didn’t have a live blog or anything), but he did write his own recap of the event. Eddie, once again, got a bunch of NGP articles compiled to keep us up to date on what is going on with our future favorite handheld (subjective, of course). As for Kevin Butler, he showed off his S.H.A.F.T. method for MLB 11: The Show, so for a good laugh, check those out. We also have reviews for MotorStorm Apocalypse and TNT racers by Trev and EdEN, respectively. Beyond that, Jason has been busy posting gaming deals and the like, which is a nice feature, but I will try to work with him to make them more pleasing to the eye, so bear with me! Be sure to read through the list of articles, both front page and QuickNews, as there is always more to read than what I talked about here. Also, don’t forget, you can donate to the Red Cross to help with the Japanese tsunami relief through PSN (the denominations are fixed, but it’s a worthy cause, and you get a free theme). Community News & Game Nights It’s been 6 years since we posted our first article. With that, we had a giveaway for a $20 PSN card (linked below). Not much in new features, but we did get a new chat system , which makes personal chats and private chat rooms possible. Definitely a nice upgrade. For the past few weeks, and upcoming weeks for that mater, the number of giveaways we’ve had/are having has picked up quite a bit. First of all, as I said on the last recap, winners of the SOCOM 4 beta have been announced. Since then, we’ve also had a Slam Bolt Scrappers giveaway , and even had that $20 PSN card giveaway for the blog’s 6 year anniversary. Luke has also acquired a number of t-shirts from PAX we will be using, including the Aperture Science t-shirts we’re giving away with Portal 2. It’s always a good idea to come by and see what we have going on for contests! Usually, you can spot those announcements in the green box in the sidebar. 22 Articles // 15 QuickNews Contributor of the Week Luke – 8 Entries QuickNews Contributor of the Week Jason – 8 Entries Most Liked Oly – Kevin Butler’s S.H.A.F.T. Method (Trash Talking for MLB 11: The Show) – 13 Likes Most Comments Luke – Battlefield 3 Impressions! – 16 Comments Game nights definitely seem to have been picking up in recent weeks. Jcmdaddy had scheduled an Uncharted 2 game night on the 17th, with a recap of the event the next day. Oly had also set up a game night for Hoard on the 18th (if you can even call it that as it wasn’t, exactly, a planned event). Gaming News PAX East 2011: Uncharted 3 Outtakes Ace on March 13th, 2011 5 Comments Free Realms MMO Coming to PSN March 29th Free! Jason on March 13th, 2011 10 Comments Battlefield 3 Impressions! Luke on March 13th, 2011 16 Comments My Top 5 Favorite User Created Levels In Little Big Planet 2 Sakinah on March 14th, 2011 12 Comments New Look of the Official PS3 Blog! Luke on March 14th, 2011 12 Comments SXSW Highlights from Austin, TX Darrin on March 14th, 2011 14 Comments Another NGP News Round Up Eddie on March 15th, 2011 9 Comments New Portal 2 Campaign Footage and Interview Luke on March 15th, 2011 10 Comments Saints Row 3 Scans! Jason on March 15th, 2011 2 Comments New Batman Arkham City Trailer Eddie on March 15th, 2011 14 Comments Battlefield 3 Fault Line Episode II Trailer Luke on March 16th, 2011 11 Comments Fire Hose Games/Slam Bolt Scrappers Interview! Luke on March 16th, 2011 15 Comments Official Review: TNT Racers EdEN on March 16th, 2011 7 Comments New Dead Island Screams! Luke on March 16th, 2011 4 Comments Do the Robot in SOCOM 4! Ace on March 16th, 2011 10 Comments Swarm Gameplay Interview Luke on March 17th, 2011 5 Comments New Portal 2 TV Spot Oly on March 17th, 2011 6 Comments Help with Tsunami Relief on PSN Jay on March 18th, 2011 11 Comments Motorstorm Apocalypse Review Trev on March 18th, 2011 11 Comments Kevin Butler’s S.H.A.F.T. Method (Trash Talking for MLB 11: The Show) Oly on March 18th, 2011 6 Comments Dynasty Warriors 7, Gameplay & Screens Luke on March 19th, 2011 7 Comments PAX East 2011: Video Interview of El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron Luke on March 19th, 2011 10 Comments QuickNews Disaster In Japan Prompts Game Developers To Shut Down Servers Sakinah on March 13th, 2011 5 Comments New to PS3 Week of 3-15-11 Jason on March 13th, 2011 4 Comments inFAMOUS 2 Limited Release User Generated Content (UGC) Beta Details Oly on March 14th, 2011 5 Comments Brink: A Matter of Class Trailer Just Released Oly on March 15th, 2011 8 Comments Yakuza 4 is out and on sale Jason on March 15th, 2011 4 Comments Edge and Schick have DLC for inFAMOUS 2 and more Jason on March 15th, 2011 7 Comments EA, Crysis 2 Demo on PS3 Having Technical Issues Luke on March 16th, 2011 5 Comments Red Dead Redemption Triple XP Today 5-7PM EST Oly on March 16th, 2011 2 Comments Gamestop Modifying PS3s and selling them-oops Jason on March 17th, 2011 2 Comments Homefront already on Sale Jason on March 17th, 2011 3 Comments Crytek Calls out IGN Jason on March 17th, 2011 12 Comments EA Pulls Crysis 2 Demo…. Jason on March 18th, 2011 6 Comments Killzone 3 1.06 Patch is Live in EU Territories Emrah on March 18th, 2011 5 Comments LBP2 Costumes Heading Our Way Soon Oly on March 18th, 2011 5 Comments Sorry Motorstorm Fans Jason on March 18th, 2011 5 Comments Poll Results Updated the old poll with the current vote tallies, and, for the most part, it all stayed the same (in terms of placement, not vote number), save for “Awesome Already”, which now stands at 8 votes. New Poll The poll for this week (and next week, due to how late this recap is) is based on Dynojunkee420′s idea on peoples’ opinion about online trophies (as in games that have trophies requiring you to play a game online). He will be rewarded his 100 points soon. – What is your opinion on online trophies? Can Live Without Hate Them Great Idea Good Idea Too Hard to Accomplish View Results

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The Weekly Recap (March 13th-19th)

We received word that there are a bunch of new assets out for Dynasty Warriors 7, and rightfully so, as the game is on the brink of release in North America. The game which has already released in Japan on the 10th of March, will be out across the global with a release in North America on the 29th of March and the 8th of April in the EU. In Dynasty Warrior 7, experience a new Story Mode and follow the captivating story of four Kingdoms battling for rule of China. Experience the individual tales of the Shu, Wu, Wei, and the new Jin Kingdoms as they shape China from the warring chaos at the end of the Later Han period to the division of the Lan into Three Kingdoms. Take your faction through this key point in history and tell the story of the Dynasty that rose to seize power and unify the country once again Check out the video and screenshots after the jump and if you want more information about the game check out the Dynasty Warrior 7 website. Video Screenshots

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Dynasty Warriors 7, Gameplay & Screens

Today at 05:46:23 (UTC)/12:46 AM (EST), Japan was hit with a magnitude 8.9 earthquake, creating factories, among other infrastructures, to temporarily shut down. According to the Kyodo news agency, Sony, who happens to be one of Japan’s mammoth exporters, had to shut down six of their factories as the earthquake caused fires and power failure in the northeast coast of the country. This earthquake will most certainly cause a humongous economic impact on Japan because of its damage to the factories. On top of the earthquake, a tsunami came rolling in from the coasts of Japan, furthering the damage to the nation’s coastline. Reportedly, a 33 feet high tsunami hit the port of Sendai. The official death toll, so far, is more than 1,000 people, Japanese media outlets are reporting. Other companies who have been identified to shut down their operations because of these natural disasters were Honda, Hokuriku Electric Co., JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp., Cosmo Oil Co. and more. Source

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Sony Factories Shut Down Due to Earthquake

NGP “Rage’s” Technical Director of ID Software tweeted about the NGP in reference of support and power. “We don’t have any plans, but the NGP could handle Rage retuned for 30 hz and a smaller dataset.” This is just another telltale piece of information that details exactly how powerful the NGP really is as Rage, as seen on the newest trailers, really shows up some spiffy graphics. Square Enix Plans Andriasang posted a little tidbit from SE on the NGP and how they can’t talk about their next project. On Sony’s new NGP system, producer Yoshinori Kitase was apparently in attendance at Sony’s unveiling press conference. Kitase shared his opinions and ideas with Sony during the hardware’s development (a recent Famitsu interview with Sony Computer Entertainment’s president revealed that Sony did actively go around getting input from developers when developing the NGP). However, Nomura said that he could not yet talk about his (or possibly Square Enix’s) plans for NGP titles. The first rule of NGP is you don’t talk about NGP…..or at least thats how I read it. I personally expect several Kingdom Hearts games and hopefully some Final Fantasy’s. Price/Release Date Rumors As you know, PS3Blog.net reposted and article from stingygamer.com indicating they have an inside source that states the pricing of the NGP will be around £250. While that is extremely great, we have another rumor for you. A Dutch website ng-gamer.nl has posted some more prices and even release dates for us to peer at. And yes, they are claiming an industry insider. Normal NGP Model = $250-$280 3g NGP Model =$320-$350 Release Date: UK-February-March 2012 US-Holiday Season 2011 JAPAN-Holiday Season 2011 NGP Middleware A piece of hardware is only as good as its middleware these days, and NGP has quite the list to show off. This speaks loudly about the developer support and ideas that are already churning behind the scenes. As time goes on, this list will grow and grow I’m sure. I’ve already seen a few additions made. **I’ll also add this little tid bit here. I can’t find the source again, but I came across one dev that stated that PSP games will have elevated graphics at least to some degree on the NGP** Game Engines * Blitz Games: www.BlitzTech.com * Crytek: www.crytek.com/cryengine * Epic Games: www.unrealtechnology.com/ * Terminal Reality: www.infernalengine.com * Trinigy: www.trinigy.de * Vicious Cycle: www.viciousengine.com Physics/AI/Animation * Havok: www.havok.com/ * NaturalMotion: www.naturalmotion.com * Morepheme: http://www.naturalmotion.com/morpheme Audio * Audiokinetic: www.audiokinetic.com/ * CRI Middleware: www.cri-mw.com/ and www.cri-mw.co.jp/ * Firelight Technologies: www.fmod.org * RAD Game Tools: www.radgametools.com User Interface * AiLive: www.ailive.net * Scaleform: www.scaleform.com NGP Designed by Devs As if we needed another reason to believe in the potential of the NGP due to developers foaming at the mouth, it seems that Sony actually went to developers and asked them what THEY would want in the perfect handheld gaming device. Here you can read a few of those comments. “Motorstorm Apocalypse developer Evolution Studios says that Sony’s worldwide network of developers got exactly what they requested in the NGP. We’ve all been looking at odd-looking devices with wires sticking out them since an early date, because with the commencement of research on NGP, Sony really changed its approach so that it was much more developer-driven,” Evolution Studios director Matt Southern told NowGamer. Instead of Sony handing hardware to developers and saying, ‘here’s our next device, make something cool’, it set about asking developers what they thought should go into the device, and what they thought would be cool,” “Literally saying, ‘we’re thinking of a rear touch pad, what could you do with that?’ BigBig came up with Little Deviants, which I think is going to be one of the killer apps,” said Southern. “So it’s almost kind of weird to be asked what I think of it because I told Sony what I think of it and, as a result, that’s reflected in the hardware. That’s happened right across, Japan, Asia, Europe and America, so in terms of first-party development it’s the machine we all wanted, and I think that’s starting to show in the games.

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Another NGP News Round Up

Famitsu.com released 40 new images of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 over the weekend. The in game screenshots showoff some of the victory poses for your tag team, returning characters Bob and Zafina and new tag combos, like this one: If you follow Tekken producer/director Katsuhiro Harada on Twitter you may already have seen the images of the TTT2 character select screen for the Arcades. If not then check them out after the jump. Harada-san has confirmed that every playable character from Tekken 6 will return in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 along with revamped stages from previous Tekkens, including the school stage from TTT1. This week Tekken fans will be treated to even more footage of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 during the annual Japanese Arcade Show ( AOU ) which kicks of in Japan on the 18th. TTT2 is scheduled for a Summer release in Japanese Arcades.

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New Tekken Tag Tournament Screenshots

Landing in Japan on March 10th is the PS3 Slim Silver. Both the 160GB and 320GB variants will be available. Remember back when the Fat was in the Silver was made as a limited edition? Does color really matter you? Would you like to see this hit stateside? [ Source ]

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The PS3 Slim Silver

Recap A really busy week this week. 31 main articles in all! I thought for sure Oly would take this week’s Contributor of the Week, but Eddie squeezed by with the win. Even the QuickNews section was crazy busy. Anyway, don’t forget that the Two Worlds II contest is still ongoing, so if you haven’t already entered today, be sure to do so . With that out of the way, what stood out this week? EdEN has interviewed one of the devs of the UnderGarden. This is actually one of the first Q&As we did with a developer! Of course, expect more, especially when we get a few guys into E3 this year! FooBear408 also did an awesome job covering the Crysis 2 Multiplayer Event Live for us. Can’t wait until he does another! If you haven’t checked out the tweets in the live blog, I suggest doing so. Quite entertaining! Other than that, we have had a lot of news covering the ongoing piracy and hacking going on with the PS3, but Sony is hard at work on that. I can see Sony “laying the smacketh down” on potentially numerous exploiters. I’m glad a lot of CFW systems have bricked. Community News & Game Nights Not much new this week. We do, currently, have a list of past contest winners if you’re interested in looking that up. Both this (the Weekly Recap) and the store update posts have been redesigned this past week and we are hoping to keep those coming for you! The recap, in particular, should be finished a lot faster than before thanks to the archives (on my end) being redone to make it easier . Thanks to Tosh, of course! As for the store update, it appears that’s what has brought a lot of you here in the first place. Although we dropped the Japan and Hong Kong stores, most of our visitors are from either the US or the EU (and Canada; not sure how much their store differs from the US store, except for maybe prices, but I don’t have a source for that). This week, we had the voting going on for the Kung Fu Live giveaway, and a few days later, the winners were also chosen. Congrats to Dean and Terbas! Hopefully you enjoy it! I haven’t had too much time with it given the fact my PS3 just had to die . 31 Articles // 16 QuickNews Contributor of the Week Eddie – 11 Entries QuickNews Contributor of the Week Sakinah – 4 Entries Most Liked Eddie – PS3 Version of Portal 2 Gives Cross Platform Play and Free PC/MAC Version as Well! – 11 Likes Most Comments Luke – Shocker, Xbox To Get Homefront DLC First! – 40 Comments For those who weren’t aware, we held a game night for LBP2 on release night . Although, according to the recap , it wasn’t a huge success (due to a number of launch-day server issues). With that in mind, another is planned for the 25th , so if you want to join in, mark your calendar! These are a great way to earn points! Gaming News Isaac Clarke Live Action Video | Dead Space 2 Tosh Hatch on January 16th, 2011 11 Comments Magic: The Gathering: Tactics premiersoupir on January 16th, 2011 2 Comments News Around the Net Eddie L. Headley on January 17th, 2011 5 Comments Coming Soon to PSN: TNT Racers EdEN on January 17th, 2011 7 Comments The Undergarden Developer Q & A EdEN on January 17th, 2011 5 Comments Final Fantasy XIII-2 Confirmed, FFXIII Agito Renamed Eddie L. Headley on January 18th, 2011 9 Comments PS3 Version of Portal 2 Gives Cross Platform Play and Free PC/MAC Version as Well! Eddie L. Headley on January 18th, 2011 22 Comments Shocker, Xbox To Get Homefront DLC First! Luke on January 18th, 2011 40 Comments Activision May Shut Down Black Ops Servers Due to PS3 Jailbreak Cheats [UPDATE] Eddie L. Headley on January 19th, 2011 36 Comments About A Blob Slimes Onto the PSN Soon Luke on January 19th, 2011 2 Comments Episodes 5 and 6 of Sordohan’s Journey (from Two Worlds II) Oly on January 19th, 2011 3 Comments Does Sony Have Something Up Their Sleeve to Combat Piracy? Eddie L. Headley on January 19th, 2011 17 Comments Exclusives and Great Incentives to Pre-Order Two Worlds II Including $10 Back! Oly on January 19th, 2011 5 Comments First Look at the Final Fantasy XIII-2 Trailer in English Eddie L. Headley on January 20th, 2011 10 Comments Playstation Plus Highlights for 2/1 Eddie L. Headley on January 20th, 2011 12 Comments [Live Blog] Crysis 2 Multiplayer Event Tosh Hatch on January 20th, 2011 5 Comments Bulletstorm: Skillisode Volume 1 and 2 Oly on January 20th, 2011 1 Comment Trophy System Now Hacked [UPDATE] Eddie L. Headley on January 20th, 2011 10 Comments Killzone 3 Multiplayer Maps Details Released Oly on January 20th, 2011 4 Comments Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Information Has Surfaced Oly on January 20th, 2011 10 Comments Red Dead Redemption XP Challenge and Home Rewards Oly on January 20th, 2011 3 Comments Ser Isaac’s Armor for Dragon Age 2 Available with Dead Space 2 Oly on January 20th, 2011 4 Comments Dead Space: Extraction Is Heading to the PSN w/ Move Support Oly on January 20th, 2011 9 Comments PSP2, What We Think We Know Eddie L. Headley on January 21st, 2011 26 Comments Skyrim Introduces “Dragon Shouts” Eddie L. Headley on January 21st, 2011 19 Comments Duke Nukem Forever Dated and Rated Jay on January 21st, 2011 9 Comments Killzone 3, Open Multiplayer Beta February 2nd Luke on January 21st, 2011 17 Comments It’s the Show About Games Show: LittleBigPlanet Sketch is Amazing Oly on January 21st, 2011 7 Comments LittleBigPlanet 2: LittleBigPrius Contest and Level Coming soon Oly on January 21st, 2011 4 Comments L.A. Noire Trailer, Release Date May 17th Eddie L. Headley on January 22nd, 2011 8 Comments Dead Space 2 Event Trev on January 22nd, 2011 4 Comments QuickNews Motorstorm Apocalypse Release Date Announced Sakinah on January 14th, 2011 1 Comment Slurpee.com has Updated With Pics of Rewards Coming Soon Oly on January 16th, 2011 3 Comments Dead Space 2 Viral Marketing Campaign| Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2 kennygk on January 16th, 2011 7 Comments Mass Effect 2 Requires Mandatory Install Sakinah on January 17th, 2011 5 Comments DCUniverse Off To A Big Start Sakinah on January 17th, 2011 7 Comments Killzone 3 Comes With SOCOM 4 Multiplayer Beta Sakinah on January 19th, 2011 8 Comments Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Prizes from Facebook Oly on January 19th, 2011 1 Comment Valve May Bring Other Titles to PS3 Steamworks Eddie L. Headley on January 20th, 2011 4 Comments Yakuza 4 Release Dates Confirmed Oly on January 20th, 2011 No Comments Kung-Fu LIVE Cheat Code Tosh Hatch on January 21st, 2011 2 Comments Sony’s January 27th Event “Playstation Meeting 2011″ Eddie L. Headley on January 21st, 2011 3 Comments Metal Gear Solid Trilogy Collection Come to PS3? Eddie L. Headley on January 21st, 2011 11 Comments Bioshock Wedding premiersoupir on January 22nd, 2011 4 Comments Little Big Planet 2: Real Life (Sackboy) Ace on January 22nd, 2011 3 Comments Just a little Duke Nukem Concept Art FTP on January 22nd, 2011 1 Comment Killzone 3 Killstreak Trailer kennygk on January 22nd, 2011 No Comments Poll Results You may have to reload the graph. Right click on it and select ‘Reload Frame’ Seems like quite a few of those who voted are not interested in getting a 3D TV at the moment, but the majority seem to have some interest, according to the numbers between all three other answers. Personally, I would like to wait it out a couple more years. Hopefully by then, there will be a glasses-less option available and it won’t have to come at a premium price. I don’t think we’re going to get the most out of this technology until around the time the PS4 comes out at least. New Poll Hopefully I have enough excuses in this week’s poll. If I need to put any more, let me know and I’ll add them! This week’s question asks whether or not we should still have exclusive titles. – Should we still have exclusive titles? Yes, shows platform superiority Yes, helps prevent monopolization of the market It is a good marketing strategy No, forces a consumer to purchase a specific platform No, exclusives have nothing to do with a platform’s success View Results

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The Weekly Recap (January 16th-22nd)

At the Square Enix Production Department Premiere, many things were shown and discussed most notably the sequel to the ever popular Final Fantasy XIII. The sequel is scheduled for release in 2011 at least in Japan. You can visit the official site here . Final Fantasy XIII Agito for the PSP has been renamed to Final Fantasy Type-0 and will be shipping on two UMD’s. Available in Japan on PSN right now is Dissidia Duodecim Prologus Final Fantasy which is a prologue to Dissidia Duodecim for 300 yen. It apparently has some story and arcade mode available. Prische from FFXI (Chains of Promethea pack) has been confirmed as a playable character. FFXIII Versus was also shown in trailer form. It was reconfirmed PS3 only world wide.

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Final Fantasy XIII-2 Confirmed, FFXIII Agito Renamed