Dragon’s Dogma Demo is a go! The fan’s requests have been heard and the Demo will arrive shortly. I’m extremely thrilled to get a hold of this one and try the crafting system. Here is the official announcement detailing what to expect. “We’re pleased to confirm today that indeed, there will be a playable demo available prior to the game’s release on Xbox LIVE and the Playstation Store. Within the demo, you’ll be able to try out two of the nine classes, including the melee-inclined Fighter and the swift and nimble Strider. With the Fighter, you’ll take on a Chimera in the depths of an underground cavern, while the Strider will use bow and daggers to take on a ferocious, airborne Griffin. You’ll also be able to take advantage of the game’s elaborate customization system by creating your own playable character and Main Pawn, which you’ll then be able to import into the full game when it comes out on May 22nd in North America, May 25th in Europe. Joy!” Source: Capcom

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Dragon’s Dogma Demo confirmed

SCE announced that the PlayStation Network in Europe and North America will undergo a scheduled maintenance this upcoming Thursday, March 1st . The EU PSN servers will be down from 16:00 until 07:00 UK time the following morning. As for North America it will be from 8:00 am Pacific and will last until 10pm . Aside from the likely unavailable services (the PS Store, account management and account registration), If you have signed in before maintenance for an online session, you will be booted out !

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PSN Down For Maintenance On Thursday

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, today announced that the sales of the PlayStation(R)Vita (PS Vita) portable entertainment system reached over 1.2 million units worldwide as of February 26, 2012. PS Vita experienced an initial burst of momentum when it launched on December 17, 2011 in Japan followed by Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. Newly launched in North and Latin America, Europe and PAL territories as well as in Singapore on February 22, 2012, sales have exceeded expectations surpassing over 1.2 million units worldwide, firmly establishing PS Vita as the must-have portable entertainment device across the world. Software sales across the globe have surpassed 2.0 million units at both retail and on PlayStation(R)Network. “PS Vita was designed to deliver the ultimate portable entertainment experience, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the reaction we’re seeing from consumers and the pace at which PS Vita is selling,” said Andrew House, President and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “The market has responded and there is clear demand for a mobile device capable of providing a revolutionary combination of rich gaming and social connectivity within a real world context. To sustain momentum, we’re working closely with 3rd party developers and publishers to ensure the best games and franchises possible will be available on PS Vita, and our software line up for the remainder of 2012 will have something for everyone across the globe.” PS Vita introduces new ways to play, delivering deep and immersive gameplay experiences that have never been offered on any other handheld gaming device. Equipped with dual analog sticks, a vibrant 5-inch high definition OLED multi-touch screen, powerful quad core processor, six-axis motion sensing system, built in microphone, and front and rear cameras, PS Vita is the ultimate portable entertainment system. In addition to the ultimate portable gaming experience, by having both Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity, together with various applications, PS Vita will enable infinite possibilities for users to “encounter,” “connect,” “discover,” “share” and “play” with friends wherever they are. With more than 25 titles currently available in North and Latin America, Europe and the PAL territories and Japan* respectively including EA SPORTS FIFA Football, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom(R)3 from Capcom, UNCHARTEDTM: Golden Abyss, WipEout(R) 2048 and Escape Plan from SCE Worldwide Studios, as well as over 70 titles in development, PS Vita is poised to drive continued momentum across the globe. SCE will vigorously promote PS Vita as the next generation portable entertainment platform and work towards expanding the portable gaming market. * Titles may differ by countries and regions.

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SCE Shifts More Than 1.2m PlayStation Vita Units Worldwide

This game is on my must have list and its looking better then ever. The trailer has 4 new playable characters to showcase as well as some of the colorfull envirorments. Borderlands 2 will be released on September 18, 2012 in North America and September 21, 2012 internationally! Read what Chris Faylor had to say on some of the major changes in Borderlands 2 after the jump. And that’s just the beginning. It barely scratches the surface of some of the underlying changes, especially when it comes to the way that characters grow and become more powerful throughout the game. Each character has their own unique Action Skill at the root of their multi-tiered Skill Trees, and as you complete more quests and kill more enemies and gain the necessary experience to start working down those Skill Trees, you’ll come across skills that do more than just add passive stats and perks — they change the way that character plays. Let’s talk about Salvador the Gunzerker, for example. When you trigger his Action Skill, he’s able to temporarily dual wield any weapons in the game. And if you just want to run and gun and blow everything up and cause as much chaos and destruction as possible, there’s a Skill Tree for that. Or if you want to make him more of a tactician and focus on nailing that one perfect shot for ridiculous damage and money, there’s a Skill Tree for that as well. And the same goes for the other characters. Maya’s Skill Trees and the way they alter her Phaselock Action Skill likewise enable players to customize the way she plays and the role she takes in battle, as do those of Axton and Zero. As our Game Designer Jonathan Hemingway puts it, Borderlands 2 isn’t just about making a few big changes and improvements, it’s about making thousands of little ones as well. Everything is being tuned, refined, improved and reworked, and in the coming months we’ll be talking much more about, well, all of that. It is nice to see this game getting the love it deserves and few game changers to keep it al interesting. Theres a killer pre-order bonus as well which gets you a Golden Vault key and some Golden guns to show off. More information can be found HERE

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Borderlands 2 New Trailer

You may remember a little game named Journey. It was initially anticipated to release sometime last year but was ultimately given a Spring 2012 launch window. Today thatgamecompany announced that Journey will arrive in North America in just under a month from now on March 13th for $14.99. European and Japanese PS3 owners get the game on the 14th and 15th, respectively. Not quite a Spring release since Winter doesn’t officially end until March 20th, but hey, who’s complaining? Source

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Date Set For Journey

Warner Brothers has graciously given us a Lord of the Rings: War in the North Collectors Edition to give away to one of our lucky members! This giveaway is only for those with an address in the USA or Canada due to shipping costs for such a large item. The Collector’s Edition includes: * The War in the North PS3 game * Ranger of the North quiver case with Map of Middle Earth Tapestry * War in the North Art Book * Inside Look: The Music of War in the North BluRay. Includes interviews and footage of composer Inon Zur at Abbey Road Studios and the E3 2011 concert event. Also includes three tracks from the game as a bonus. * Digital content: War in the North wallpaper, fonts, icons, and more. Make sure you check out Pedro’s review of War in the North here , and then check out all the ways you can enter to win after the jump! Please like & follow The Lord of the Rings: War in the North on Facebook & Twitter. It’s because of them we are having this giveaway! So show them some love. Follow @warinthenorth [Worth up to 5 Entries] Purchase Lottery Ticket for 150 Points for a entry into the lottery. Here are all the possible ways to earn points . [Worth 1 Entry] Like the giveaway post on the lottery page (not the actual post itself) via Facebook. Then post a comment to your facebook wall from the lottery page. [EARN 35 Points] [Worth 1 Entry] Follow @ps3blogdotnet on Twitter. Then there will be a tweet button. You just have to click that & tweet the exact text in the pop-up . Then a notification will pop up saying your entry was successful. [EARN 35 Points] [Worth 1 Entry] Use the Google +1 button on the lottery page (not the actual post itself), then share on your Google+ profile to complete your entry. [EARN 35 Points] [Worth 1 Entry] First, be a fan of our our Facebook page . On the left sidebar, there is a [Giveaway] link. Go there and at the bottom there is a “Enter Contest” button you can click for your Facebook PS3Blog.net Fan Page entry. Note: Make sure you’re logged into PS3Blog.net before you click the button. [EARN 10 Points] [Worth 1 Entry] Subscribe to our YouTube Channel . We will post a bulletin. Follow the link & it will count as your YouTube entry. Note: Make sure you’re logged into PS3Blog.net before you click the link. [EARN 10 Points] [Bonus 3 Entries] After you have purchased at least one lottery ticket you are eligible for video entries. Make a video saying why you want to win. It can be funny, unique, strange, etc. Have fun with it. Include PS3Blog.net and the name of the item being given away in your video & in the title of the video. Then use the button above to submit your video for review. Also leave a comment below with a link to your YouTube video. [EARN 30 Points] Here are the most recent YouTube video entries for all giveaways on PS3Blog.net with the most recent ones displayed first.

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[Giveaway] Lord of the Rings: War in the North Collectors Edition

As the PS3 exclusive combat racer prepares to ship this month Eat Sleep Play co-founder David Jaffe revealed his plans to depart from the company. Scott Campbell broke the news during an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune stating that Jaffe is leaving the company the two of them created to tackle the casual market. When the story made waves online, Jaffe took to Twitter to explain his reasons for leaving ESP, his plans to continue supporting Twisted Metal and what’s ahead. “I have zero plans to make games like Farmville and Angry Birds,” he tweeted. “I never said what I was doing post TM (and I’m still on TM along with ESP for the next months as we launch it and balance it in real-time and make sure it’s a perfect game and continue to support it). At the same time I will be opening a game studio here in San Diego because I really miss internal game development. I’m leaving because – again – games are just getting 2 big to direct from 300 miles away & I miss the day 2 day of working direct w/team.” Jaffe also stressed that he currently has no concrete plans on what his next game will be under his new studio or for which platform(s). As of now Twisted Metal is his top priority.

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David Jaffe Planning To Depart From Eat Sleep Play

Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a hack and slash game based on the fantasy created by J. R. R. Tolkien. This story takes place during the same period as the books (or movies), but in the game, the tale told is that of another group of adventurers. There have been many attempts to translate the rich world of LotR into video games, and many have failed. However, while still not the definitive Tolkien experience, I’ll agree with the bold statement made in the cover: “this is the best LotR game yet”. After the movies came out (2001, 2002 and 2003), everyone started looking at this universe differently. Peter Jackson really raised the bar when giving life to Tolkien’s stories, and I was glad to see this represented in the game. Environments are rich and varied; weapons and armor also have a very unique feel to them. Character models are simple, but you’ll certainly note the resemblance of some of the known characters, like Elrond, Aragorn and Bilbo. Effects are few, even when casting spells or using special skills, but this works out for the best because it does not get in the way of your view of the battlefield, which gets really busy at times. Textures are decent, but what really upped the visuals a bit was the lighting. Animations are the only thing that disappointed me a little bit, but only during cut scenes (and there are many), because combat looks really good and fluid. Like most action games, it’s really simple to switch between weak, strong and ranged attacks. Special skills acquired through leveling are just as easy to use and can change the tide of the battle. You’ll play as one of 3 classes (ranger, warrior or mage), each has its own strengths and weaknesses, but since they’re always together it doesn’t really matter which you choose. Just make sure it’s the one more suited to your play style. The ranger (based on Aragorn, a.k.a. Strider) is more of a DPS character and a great archer. His bow and arrow skills are extraordinarily useful, but he also handles close combat pretty well (unless surrounded by stronger enemies). The warrior (a dwarf that looks a lot like Gimli) is your tank character, with a bunch of war cries that will boost your party’s stats. Finally, the mage (which doesn’t resembles much any of the members of the fellowship) is an elf with some great control abilities and also works as the healer and ranged defender. You can play as any of these characters (and change in between major checkpoints if you feel like it) while the computer (or someone else) controls the other two. Working together is the key to overcome the biggest challenges. Based on the epic score of the movies, I was expecting the soundtrack to be more remarkable, but it ended up being a bit repetitive and otherwise uninteresting. Sound effects are good and do justice to the fun combat. Unfortunately, not the same can be said about the voice acting, which is very inconsistent. In a game with as many cut scenes as this, you’d expect more, especially since Nolan North lends his voice to the ranger. However, the dialogue does not sound like Tolkien, which only serves as aggravation. The story has you running after a sorcerer by the name of Agandaûr to prevent a massive attack at the North ( ! ) while helping those who are somehow hindered by his evilness along the way. I thought it worked fine for the game, and while it might not be as epic as Frodo’s journey, it certainly didn’t feel out of place or sounded unbelievable in the overall scheme. Please note that I’m a fan, so don’t take this lightly. Like many action games, combat can get a bit tiresome at times. Fortunately, you can switch between characters and mix it up a little bit by trying different play styles every once in a while. I only wish you could do this on the fly right in the middle of fights, instead of having to quit and reload to do so. Co-op is certainly the way to go, since your AI partners aren’t really bright and don’t usually take orders that well. I also enjoyed having a New Game + option, since, for some reason, I always appreciate starting the game more and more powerful (however, at least 3 playthroughs on increased difficulties are required to platinum the game). Overall, I was pleased with Lord of the Rings: War in the North. It certainly scratched my itch for something related to the subject and it was really interesting to see something new created for this rich universe, even if it’s not nearly as good as the original. A hack and slash RPG with solid combat and placed in the best fantasy world ever created; this is how I’d describe it. A great time for anyone interested in one great cooperative game or just looking to revisit Middle-Earth. Review Pros Cons A Lord of the Rings game! Solid and rewarding combat Fun co-operative experience Lots of loot to hoard and secrets to uncover Bland soundtrack and voice acting Overly complicated menus make it annoying to switch characters and manage equipment Story is fun, but fails to deliver a true LotR feeling of epicness Rating 87%

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[Review] Lord of the Rings : War in the North

Last week, I was invited to an exclusive PS Vita Rooms Party here in the UK, and to be honest it’s taken me all this time to digest everything to do with the event. The PS Vita Rooms Party took place on Tuesday 17th January at 63 Deansgate – a highly popular stretch of road situated bang smack in the heart of Manchester, the city belonging to two of the world’s most admired football/soccer teams, Manchester City and Manchester United. With the location guaranteeing maximum exposure for the PS Vita events in the North West of England, thousands of gamers filtered through the doors over 7 days to catch a glimpse of the console that has caused a stir over recent months. With the event consisting of approximately 30 – 35 playable PS Vitas on two floors, approximately 10+ ‘launch day’ games on display, a DJ, free food & drinks, developers and exclusive PS Vita accessories being showcased – you knew that this party was the place to be! First Impressions The handheld console, if you’ve not already seen it looks absolutely stunning. The black glossy chasis is just beautiful, and with the most important feature of the console being a 5-inch (960 x 540) OLED touchscreen, to say it simply makes games look amazing due is an understatement. With multi touch functionality, you can play games in a way you couldn’t on the PSP, or on the PS3. Plus, the touchscreen isn’t the only touch sensitive feature of the console, the Vita also packs a touch pad on the rear side of the device, which in time will prove to be an important element of the console’s success. Expecting it to feel a little heavy due to the amount of technology packed into the console, I was somewhat surprised to find how much it actually weighed. Let me put it this way – imagine a wallet or purse containing approximately 5 credit cards in it, that’s how much I thought it weighed – super light! In fact, it was considerably lighter than my mobile/cell phone. The Games For those that are looking beyond the console and are focused on the games, here’s a list of games that were on show at the event: Uncharted: Golden Abyss Modnation Racers Reality Fighters Everybody’s Golf Little Deviants Hustle Kings Top Darts FIFA 12 Gravity Rush WipEout 2048 WipEout HD (PS3) Super Stardust Delta Escape Plan LittleBigPlanet MotorStorm RC Rather than spend quite a bit of time dissecting the games, which this report isn’t about – I’ll briefly go over just 3 of the key games I played. Uncharted: Golden Abyss If you thought that Uncharted 2 and 3 were superb games, then you have another thing coming as Uncharted Abyss on the Vita takes things to a higher level. To start off, the graphical detail is just perfect – and if you’re all about gameplay then you will not be disappointed. The game follows Drake across South America in search for gold. I got the opportunity to play 2 levels of the overall game. I was put into situations where I had to snipe the baddies, and whilst sniping, you could tilt your console left, right, up or down in order to target your victim – this reminded me of the perfect sixaxis functionality that was put into Super Rub A Dub, a sixaxis game that was released alongside the PS3 back in 2006/7. Whilst progressing further, I needed to cross over to another section of the level – I tried everything I could think of and nothing worked (I guess my level of intelligence isn’t as good as I thought) – but in order to progress, you had to think outside the box. I needed a bridge – how do I do this? Simple, just stroke your finger across the landscape in order to create the bridge for Drake to cross. How awesome is that? I wouldn’t have figured it out if it wasn’t for the chap next to me. With features and functionality such as this, you really were part of the game. WipEout 2048 You may have noticed the WipEout HD (PS3) in the list above – nope, it wasn’t a typo, I’ll expand on that list entry in a few moments. For now, let’s concentrate on WipEout 2048. Not so long ago, Sony had been quoted to say that WipEout 2048 will be the game that will sell the Vita – and they for sure weren’t lying about that. WipEout 2048 can be described in one word – amazing! Ok, let me add another word to that – beautiful! I can imagine some of you thinking, yeah yeah, it’s just WipEout and it’s nothing special – no really, go and try it – you WILL be blown away! I don’t really need to go on about how the graphics were like this and the playability was like that – it’s WipEout – you can’t go wrong with this title at all! It’s all it was meant to be – superb! Now let’s look at how the PS3 is involved here. If you’ve played WipEout before, you know that it has a huge multiplayer following. Well, imagine this – you’re playing WipEout HD on the PS3 but you’re also taking on players in the same game who are playing on the PS Vita (see image above – note the players on the right). Yes folks, cross-platform connectivity is here. If that isn’t a selling point, then I don’t know what is. So does this game make me want to go out and buy a PS Vita? Hell Yes! MotorStorm RC Evolution Studios are at it again! They had a launch day release for the PS3, and now they strike again with MotorStorm RC being their launch day game for the PS Vita! MSRC took me by surprise, and although the title should have given it away for me (RC) I was expecting something a little familiar to what I’ve been playing in the MotorStorm series for the last 5 years. With more than 100 customised cars available, which fall into categories such as Buggies, Muscle Cars, Superminis, Racing Trucks, Rally Cars, Supercars, Big Rigs and Monster Trucks, your bus journey into work is going to be more entertaining as you’ll be whistling around those crazy maps whilst hi-5′ing that old granny that is sat next to you each time you come first! With each game lasting around approximately 2 mins, you can get at least 5 – 10 games played before you hit your desk.* This is a quality, yet fun and crazy game to keep you glued to the Vita for hours! It doesn’t end there either – if you have a Vita and a PS3, you can continue your progress on the PS3 and vice versa – saving you tons of time, and generally avoiding the need to prove yourself again that you’re a MotorStorm Legend. * Depends on how long your journey to work is! Games – Overall Impression Each of the games I played tested the Vita’s functionality in one way or the other, and from 3 keys games I played, I saw some really good demos of functionality; cross-platform connectivity & continuity, motion sensors, touch-screen interaction – and I’m sure it doesn’t stop there. Once the developers get used to developing for this little beauty of a console, they’re sure to make you look and act strange in any which way they can by unlocking/packing some great interaction into their games. A major tumbs up from me from what I’ve seen. I can’t wait to see how the Vita market will be in one years time. Other Guests Other than spending lots of time playing as many games, I was eager to meet some of the other guests that were present at the party. We talked, we laughed and I made a fool of myself – quite normal for me though. 4Gamers It was an absolute pleasure to meet Tony Walton, Product Development Manager for 4Gamers, and if you haven’t heard of 4Gamers – you need to get googling now. They don’t just make accessories for every console out there – but they make THE best accessories for every console out there. After a nice long chat about 4Gamers and what they’ve got in store for the Vita, I got an opportunity to see the accessories that will be available on launch day and I also got a sneak preview of an accessory which will make your Vita look even cooler than it already does. Rather than spoil the surprise, I will be writing up a special on 4Gamers very soon. We’ll show you exactly what 4Gamers have up their sleeves for the Vita launch! Evolution Studios I also had the pleasure to chat to Paul Rustchynsky, Lead Designer at Evolution Studios, the guys (and girls) behind the ever popular MotorStorm series. I took the liberty to record the interview (clever me), which you can listen to below: Last but not least, a big shout goes out to the well dress @Keggs11, who forgot to change before he left work for the party. Now, I am led to believe that this is how all Evolution Studios staff dress when they come to work – or maybe someone was pulling my leg?!? Yep – I’ve been had, haven’t I? All in all, I’ve definitely been sold on the PS Vita. For me it’s on my shopping list – albeit it being a huge shopping list – thank you dear wife. When it comes to technology, I’m like a kid in a sweet shop. However, I’m one of those kids that are very careful with their money and make sure you’re getting your moneys worth. Then there’s the hope that my postman would just deliver a PS Vita out of nowhere – there’s always hope. We’ve seen the PS3 go from strength to strength over the last 5 years or so, expect a lot from the Vita a few years down the line! Sony have a game plan, and the Vita isn’t just going to be a PSP replacement, it seems there’s more to it than what’s been shown to us. So, the party – yes, it was a huge success! The message was sent out loud and clear, that Sony really mean business with the Vita. The console is definitely going to knock your socks off – if you wear socks that is. So, are you going to bag a PS Vita when it’s out? What are your reasons for picking one up? If you’re not getting one, other than financial constraints – why not?

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The PS Vita Rooms Party

Here’s new gameplay footage of the Jak & Daxter HD Collection. While the footage in the video is of Jak II the Jak & Daxter HD Collection includes the first three games of the series, Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Jak II and Jak 3. The Collection is set to arrive in North America on February 7th.

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Jak & Daxter HD Collection Footage