After launching update 3.70, which added only a few functionality features including the ability to share recommendations for PlayStation store items, PlayStation announced via Twitter yet another non-mandatory update which will improve your console’s stability in certain areas. A new, non-mandatory PS3 firmware update, v3.73, is now available. Stability during use of certain PS3 format software has been improved.

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PS3 Firmware Update 3.73

Naughty Dog is launching a DLC program that will provide you with a the first four multiplayer map packs and the first three multiplayer skin packs for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception in exchange for $24.99 . The new program, entitled Fortune Hunters’ Club , will ensure a 45% savings on purchasing each pack separately once the packs are out. Members of the club will also receive an exclusive Fortune Hunters Club theme and will be notified via an XMB message upon the release of each DLC. According to the official PlayStation blog , The Fortune Hunters’ Club season ticket is available for pre-order today on the PlayStation Store and select retailers. Uncharted 3 DLC is valued at over $45 when sold separately and we should expect the first DLC to arrive in November.

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Uncharted 3 Season Pass

Albatropolis. A country occupied by an evil penguin regime. It’s up to you, the feathered hero Hardboiled Chicken, the original Cock of War, to rid the world of that stain. This is basically the premise of the game. For those unfamiliar with Rocketbirds, this is technically an expansion to the universe pf the browser-based game titled Rocketbirds: Revolution! In this game, Hardboiled must stop the penguin army’s leader, Putzki, at all costs. With the premise of the story out of the way, it’s time to focus on the actual review. The game launches with an $11.99 price tag, so the question is, will that investment be worth it? Gameplay Single Player – Of course, the biggest feature in a game is the gameplay. You can have the best looking game in the world, but if it doesn’t play well, there’s no sense in playing it, right? With that said, this game is very fast paced. You’ll be doing a lot of running and gunning, that’s for sure. My very first impression playing it was that it reminded me a bit of the old Oddworld games. Anyway, as far as the single player goes, there are a variety of weapons located throughout the levels/chapters, with each weapon having a little bit of a cutscene introduction (even if it was a weapon you had picked up before, but it’s not like they’re all over the place; at most, a chapter will only have access to 3 guns max). Weapon firing is generally simple. Move your stick in the direction you want to fire and hit R1. You can also crouch by pressing down, which helps to hit some enemies, like when they’re hidden behind a crawl space or vent. And yes, you’ll do a bit of crawling in those spaces. The levels themselves aren’t that big, but navigating them does require a bit of backtracking every once in a while. A lot of doors are secured by security cards, so you’ll have to go on about finding those, which are sometimes in the possession of an enemy (usually the last one to spawn in a wave sequence, for instance). Wave sequences are certain parts of the game where waves of enemies come in to try to take Hardboiled out, and you have to stop them to progress to the next area. Resources are often scarce here (ammo and health packs; you can track how low you are on either using the HUD), so you’ll have to conserve your ammo and only grab health packs when you need it. The big penguins with the shields you will have to sneak behind, as you could potentially empty a clip of ammo and not do anything to the enemy himself. Also, be sure to let dead bodies fall to the ground, as you will juggle their bodies and potentially miss enemies behind him because of that (though, there is a trophy for juggling an enemy for 10 seconds). One of the available weapons you’ll eventually gain (through one of the cardinal brothers, which are imprisoned by the regime) is the Brain Bug. The brain bugs work similarly to grenades, except they jump and explode in the air. If an enemy is close enough, when they explode, they’ll allow you to take control of an enemy penguin, allowing you to slip by enemies unnoticed and open secure doors you can’t otherwise reach. Or you can use them to shoot up the enemies in an area without rustling up your own feathers. Hidden throughout the levels are hidden protest signs. Admittedly, I haven’t found all of them, so I am not sure what they unlock, but they usually require some thinking to achieve them, or just simply coming across them. One of them I was able to get by shooting an enemy and juggling him in the air until his body crossed the sign and activated it. Simply shooting the signs, however, doesn’t activate them if I recall correctly. Now, I assume the main title of Rocketbirds comes from the fact that Hardboiled, through a few of the levels, comes across his rocket/jet pack, and must take out a zeppelin or two. You basically strap on the pack and head for the skies, where you have to fire at enemies that launch from the dirigibles. Some enemies are also what I assume to be remotely controlled helicopters, which fire homing missiles at you. If you’re good, you can circle around an enemy and have a rocket take one of them out instead, but they do eventually lost their tracking (just fly in circles if you have to). For the most part, these levels are zoomed out quite a bit, so your character might be a little hard to see, but I think it works better this way, as you have more awareness of what’s going on around you. Personally, I liked these sequences quite a bit, but they are few. Being able to shut the throttle off on the rockets and float down while firing at enemies heading toward you is pretty fun. Of course, after you defeat all of the waves, you have to head inside of the ships and blow them up. Upon leaving the ships, you’ll either have to go to the next one, or head back towards the ground for the next chapter. Overall, I’d say the game is a bit fun, but at only 15 chapters (each being relatively short), it’s also a quick game to get through. Beyond trying to find all of the hidden protest signs, I don’t see there being too much replay value with this title. Co-Op – If you feel the urge to play with a friend, the game does offer local cooperative play. Instead of playing as Hardboiled (or, say, one of the Cardinal brothers), you play as smaller Pudgies, each with a specific weapon/difficulty. The story is different, too. Rather than trying to stop the penguin regime, your task is, instead, to rescue ‘some chick’, which happens to be the general’s daughter. It’s different enough to mention, though, because, even though the levels are basically the same ones from the single player campaign, certain things are laid out differently in an effort to force you to take on a situation in a different way. This includes one player standing on a button to deactivate a laser grid so the other player can stand on the next, or having to take different floors and solve a puzzle that way. Most of the time, it doesn’t take much thought for the puzzles, but communication between you and the guy/gal sitting next to you could mean the difference between life and death, so to speak. A lot of times, you will need to jump on your partner’s shoulder (or vis versa) to reach a ledge neither of you can reach by yourself. You can also do this and just be a totem of death. This is also helpful in some cases, as the base Pudgie can jump while the top one fires (since you can’t jump and shoot at the same time). Overall, though, co-op is quite a bit easier than single player, but it is also only 10 chapters. My brother and I probably finished it off in about an hour and a half, and that was with him dying a bunch of times, too. Still, it was a pretty fun experience (both with single player and co-op). It could have maybe used more than one boss fight, though. Graphics First, I’ll tackle the cutscenes. For those familiar with high-quality flash games, these really fit the bill. Personally, I thought the cutscenes were very well done, even if they did look like a flash game. There isn’t much as far as vocals go, and everything is mainly interpreted by the action on the screen, but it looks good doing it. The game itself is nicely done as far as level aesthetics go (outside areas look great). I would say they’re like a quasi-2D/3D world. Everything is on a 2D field, but objects will move based on perspective as well, giving the game a pretty unique look. There is no jaggedness to any of it, either, so it all looks really smooth, despite the characters being 2D themselves. Everything fits in very well and, I would say, high quality. The only thing I thought was out of place was actually the evil general’s force field/barrier (I forgot his name; I wanted to write it down, though), but it did make for an interesting boss fight in single player. The game also supports stereoscopic 3D (as well as a variety of colored lens-based 3D). I couldn’t test any of these out, however, as I don’t have a 3D TV, let alone, old school 3D glasses, but these options are there if you are able to use them (you can also adjust the 3D depth in the options). Sound and Soundtrack The musical score in the game is solely credited to an indie band by the name of New World Revolution. Though I am not a fan of that kind of music, it fits the game’s cutscenes VERY well. I was surprised how well it worked with them (you could, in that sense, call the cutscenes music videos, so they’re very multipurpose). Outside of the cutscenes, however, there isn’t too much music playing, except for in certain parts of a level (like over loudspeakers, etc). Other than that, it’s mainly ambient noise (which are also well done) and, of course, gunfire and explosions. As mentioned earlier, there isn’t too much talking going on in the game. There’s maybe like 5 lines of vocal dialogue throughout. Other than that, the dialogue by characters is through text bubbles and simulated bird calls. Personally, I think they could have maybe done vocal lines, since even then, there aren’t too many. Conclusion Overall, I do think the game is a high quality title. It may not be the longest title in the world, but it is still a lot of fun. At least, for an initial playthrough. Unless you’re simply playing for trophies, I don’t see too much replay value. In that case, $12 might be a bit hard to swallow, but even then, price is still subjective. The game does have a decent storyline, and definitely leaves room for a sequel, though, so I’m hoping Ratloop Asia can build more onto the gameplay, which I think is pretty fun (save for getting shot myself, and there’s a bunch of enemies shooting at me, leaving me incapable of defending myself ). You can, at least, play the demo so you can get used to the basic gameplay mechanics and decide whether a purchase is worth it from there, but I do recommend checking it out. Who knows? You might enjoy it more than you think! Especially when you take into consideration the score I gave it. Review Pros Cons Graphics and Style is High Quality Fitting Musical Score Simple Controls Puzzles Add to Gameplay Very Short (Both Co-op and Single Player) Could Use More Spoken Parts Only One Boss Fight Not Too Much Replay Value Rating 73%

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[Official Review] Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken

Max and the Magic Marker: Gold Edition’s PSN debut brings support for HD graphics and the PlayStation Move motion controller. The game is a lot of fun. Make sure you check out Eden’s review here . Source: Press Release

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Max and the Magic Marker: Gold Edition will be Released Nov. 1

Trendy Entertainment has released the fourth developer diary for its upcoming co-op/action-RPG/tower-defense game, Dungeon Defenders! The video features an in-depth look at the RPG mechanics of Dungeon Defenders. The devs show off how players can level the four different character classes, find tons of loot, raise and collect a variety of pets with different abilities, and forge and trade equipment. “Dungeon Defenders is AAA downloadable game which is equal parts tower defense and action-RPG. Create a hero from one of four classes and develop your skills, pets, towers and abilities to fight off the evil from Etheria! Take your character online to share your wares, pets and skill with four-player local and online co-op!” This game is really looking good, and I can’t wait to try it out. Dungeon Defenders will be available on the PlayStation Network Oct. 18. Hit the jump for the other three developer diaries.

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Dungeon Defenders Developer Diaries

Laughing Jackal, the developer of OMG-Z, Cubixx HD and the PlayStation conversions of Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson’s Fighting Fantasy series, have revealed the name of their latest PlayStation Mini as being Orbit, and provided us with the following teaser: “Help Doc, the Institute of Space Research Institute’s last remaining astronaut, as he explores the Solar System in as many different space “ships” as the ISRI can cobble together. You’ll need to survey the gas giant Jupiter, probe the blackest depths of Uranus and collect all the gold ore you can find to fill Prof’s bank account, err… I mean revive the failing space program. To aid you, Prof has planned out upgrades for 8 of your ships to help separate you from your cash, err… sorry, I mean to improve your flight capabilities, enabling you to circumnavigate all the planets of the Solar System before travelling further into the universe.” I can’t wait to learn more!

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New PS Mini “Orbit” Coming from Laughing Jackal

Warning: The following footage is from a video game. Battling fury mascots to death in a deranged Japanese game-show should not be attempted in the real world. “Ah, Steelport, the ultimate escape. Home to sinners, and now, to the Saints. As the Third Street Saints wrestle control of this seedy metropolis from the Syndicate in Saints Row: The Third, we look back on our fondest moments here, from eliminating a gang of ornery, stun gun-toting senior citizens, to skydiving naked into a Syndicate pool party. Sweet, sweet memories. In our second Cherished Memory from Steelport, we look back on our first episode of Professor Genki’s Super Ethical Reality Climax, Steelport’s favorite game show. Time sure does fly when you’re shooting pandas. Enjoy!”

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Saints Row: The Third – Cherished Memories #2

No other series represents the PlayStation 3 logo as Naughty Dog’s Uncharted does. The Uncharted series is the crown jewel of the PlayStation3, loved and adored by millions of fans worldwide, and on that matter, Sony realized the need to lunch a huge marketing campaign for the Latest installment in the Uncharted series, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. We had a great open beta, a Subway exclusive multiplayer offer and now, according to IGN , the PlayStation Home is prepared for an Uncharted 3 makeover! If you are familiar with the Uncharted 3 multiplayer, in which case you can download it through a Subway code or by taking advantage of your PlayStation Plus EU membership , then you will notice the resemblance between the newly modified PlayStation Home, shown in video below, and the multiplayer level Yemen . Throughout the Uncharted 3 area, you can chat with friends, take part in an Uncharted 3 cover-based avatar game with 10 different challenges where you will fight waves of enimies, collect tresures and unlock content in the real game, and if you already haven’t done this, you can pre-order Uncharted 3 through Amazon for a special Nathan Drake Home skin with a complementary gun-play taunt. Sony have’t released info regarding the Uncharted 3 Home release, but we will keep you updated. Until then, here is a taste of the PlayStation Home Uncharted 3 game … Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception will be available on November 1st 2011 and you can buy your copy of the game right here! Do you want the regular one for only $59.99 OR do you feel adventurous and go for the Collector’s Edition for only $99.99 ?

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Uncharted 3 Invades PlayStation Home

Have a new PS3 that doesn’t have backwards compatibility? Then this announcement by Sony Computer Entertainment should make you happy. Sony has revealed a new campaign called “Only on PSN” in which some of the classic PS2 titles will be re-released exclusively over the PlayStation Store during the month of October. Starting October 4th the first wave of PS2 titles to be launched under the program will include God Hand, GrimGrimoire, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, Odin Sphere and Ring of Red, with more titles to release every week.Each of these titles will be priced at $9.99. PlayStation Plus members will receive 20% off all purchases in Only On PSN, while users who spends $60 on any PSN content this month will receive $10 credit in November. As of now “Only on PlayStation Network” is only for North America, however Sony plans to introduce “numerous exciting offers” for PSN users throughout Europe in the “lead-up to Christmas”. Via: Gamasutra

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New “Only On PSN” Program Brings PS2 Classics To The PS Store

An interesting article by Shacknews.com indicates that PlayStation Home will be getting a (free to play) Multiplayer FPS game entitled Bootleggers. The game described as avatar versus avatar action, will be available in Home’s Action district, which is one of the PlayStation Home districts in the upcoming redesign (For more information on the PlayStation Home upcoming design you can check Jay’s Post ). Also note that Matchmaking will be done through the matchmaking lobby in the desired district.

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Bootleggers – PlayStation Home Free-To-Play Upcoming Multiplayer FPS