A new month shall soon be here and along with it comes a whole new week as well! Now, what can we buy with our hard earned money for our greatest hobby of all? Not many releases available, but there’s bound to be something for everyone in the next list. Let’s find out if you’re happy about it! First the bad news: there is absolutely no PSP releases either at retail or on the PSN store which makes one wonder WHAT games are still left for a release when the Vita’s launch is slowly getting closer. Now, for the rest of you still around, here’s what will be released for this week: PS3 RETAIL RELEASES Bleach: Soul Resurrección Phineas and Ferb: Across The Second Dimension PSN RELEASES Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team Dragon Age Origins Galaga Legions DX minis One Epic Game Monochrome Racing Buying anything this week? I’d recommend Phineas and Ferb as it’s a take on the cartoon universe of P and F but with a twist: what would Ratchet and Clank do? Reminds me a bit of how Chicken Little: Ace in Action took an IP without much promise (gamewise) and turned it into a very fun game.

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Releases for the Week (August 1st-7th)

Another week, another minis review! This time Mad Blocker Alpha: Revenge of the Fuzzles gets a chance to shine and try to compete for your hard earn money. What can we expect from this game? As always, minis can be enjoyed on the big screen (or the screen of the size that you have at home) from your PS3 or on the portable spectre thanks to the PSP and the Go (it DOES still exist!). Follow along as we take you into a journey that involves lots of blocks, blocks, blocks. Blocks are preset and you can only move them from left to right with the D-pad or slide them from one side to the other one at a time. No rotation them as if you were playing Tetris but game but a tad closer to Panel de Pon at least until you place your puzzle piece. Connect four blocks (or more) at the same time to make them dissapear. More than one set (of the same color) can dissapear with a single piece if you plan things right. You’ve got powerup blocks available for your survival that are activated with the Square, Circle and Triangle buttons and these are obtained from a roulette that spins every time you create a chain. Here’s a list of the powerups you’ll run into: – One of the special blocks is of the “rainbow” variety as it constantly shifts from one color to another and the colored block it lands on makes ALL of the blocks of the same color be “free”. – An exploding block that is a distant cousin to Bomberman and his amazing bombs. It explodes a bit after being placed in the same patter one would expect from Hudson’s great mascot. – A heavy block that destroy the whole column where it sorta rests for a second after it’s placed. There are three modes available once you start up the game so let’s take a look at each one to better understand what is being offered: Story Mode Name says it all, right? Here’s the story, straight from the game itself: Fluzzles are small fluffy creatures who love “shape-morphing” in thbeir beautiful homeland of Machu Popyu. Alas, evil “Mokes” are pollutiong their world in the name of profits and pointy charts that impress Make industry big Wigs! Now the Fluzzles must venture through the lands summoning the Great Buhmba to restore natures balance. Help the Fluzzles gather in griups of 4 or more matching coloured blocks to unleash the power of Buhma against the Mokes. But beware! Should the Mokes prove too powerful, the Fluzzles shall be trapped in block form forever as terrible “Desaturons”. Go forth and rejuvenate! Each level in story mode has a set objective as the goal you must reach in order to progress further. What are these objectives? – Obtain X amount of points before time runs out. – “Free” (destroy?) a set number of blocks of a specific color – Create X amount of chains before time runs out (these are achieved by freeing 8 or more fluzzles at the same time). In case you forget what your level objective is you can pause the game and see what needs to be done. Once you get to the only new level left in your journey you’ll reach the last (and only) boss in story mode. Things start out very easy but you’ll soon realize that a lot of work is required to actually beat this nemesis that stands between you and the freedom of the Fluzzles! Endless Mode Survive as long as you can and try to get a highscore! Only two ways to end this mode: you quit out (giving up…really?) or you’re overwhelmed and loose. Come to think of it, why is this mode called endless if it DOES eventually end? It doesn’t go on forever! Weird. Tower Mode Build a tower as high as the screen to go up a level! Don’t fall below the red line and watch out for the bottom line exploding from time to time! How high can you get with the help of the multicolor blocks available for your entertainment? If you’ve got a couple of minutes at a time the Mad Blocker Alpha: Revenge of the Fuzzles is a game that will provide you with a very fun take on the tried and true “match X number of pieces” formula in the puzzle genre and since it’s only $4 it’s a game you should add to your minis collection. Review Pros Cons Very fun puzzle game that’s easy to understand Good price Great artstyle and music Would have liked there to be another boss or two to battle Rating 80% Published by Open Emotion Studios Cost – $3.99 Other Information Disclaimer – A copy of the game was supplied by the publisher for this review. – Story mode was completed and both Endless and Tower mode had a chance as well. – Total amount of time played: 6 hours. Want to get this game? Then you can: Buy a $20 PSN Card! Buy a $50 PSN Card!

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Mad Blocker Alpha Review

With the new announcement of PSP titles being remastered in HD for the PS3 comes another not so good one. Trophy support will not be included. Sony Japan isn’t saying why this is exactly but Kotaku was quick to point out the obvious. Trophy hacking would be far to easy as all games support save transfer from psp to PS3. With email and many other forms of file transfer one can simply post a save that can be placed on a psp memory stick then transferred to a PS3 allowing for an instant platinum. Getting tons of extras with these titles should make for a solid purchase but those who simply love virtual Trophies are going to be truly discouraged on a purchase. Does this affect your purchase plans? Will this be a theme that will continue with the PS Vita? Source: Kotaku

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PSP Remakes & What They Won’t Feature

Sony has introduced PSP dual packs which retail for $14.99 and are also on the PSN Store digitally as well which is great for Go users. The first set to be released as of this week are Secret Agent Clank and Daxter; Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow and Killzone Liberation; and Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo. That is a heck of a deal. I would like to see them offer the 2 God of War games at that price. Source: PlayStation.Blog

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PSP Dual packs are a steal

I really like it when publishers are kind enough to sum up their game so everyone can know what they’re getting into: NormalTanks is a fast-paced multi-directional arcade shooter featuring classic run’n’gun gameplay with 3 difficulty settings. There are 8 challenging, dynamic and hazardous environments to tackle and inside every enemy base or forests and mountains, you have to choose your battle tactics carefully to survive! Over the 30 dangerous enemies types on your heroic way, including various tanks, heavy war machines and helicopters, robots and biomechanical creatures, pillboxes and SSM missile sites and every level ends with its own, unique boss to defeat. Crash, kill and destroy them all to move forward! By using special power-ups, you can upgrade your tank abilities: cannon, machine gun, and armor to help you progress. Some levels transform you to tiny bot to stealth pass near the enemies and deactivate energy fields or to giant walking robot, which demolish everything on his way to the alien’s hive! Now it’s reviewing time! Review Liked the video? Ok, now let’s find out how to engage in this action packed roll around the dirt stained warzone. Since this is a minis, dual analog controls are out and we must use the following setup: Move with D-Pad, rotate turrets with right side buttons, autoaim by hitting the analog stick, fire with R and, finally, switch weapons with L. Controls take about 5 minutes to sink in since this is one of those games where dual analog control WOULD have been welcome… but that has more to do with the hardware itself and how it doesn’t have said control input available. As soon as you’re dropped into the action you’ll notice an ammo counter on the upper left part of the screen for your two available weapons and this in turns helps you KNOW you must always be on the lookout for ammo pickups and not go around firing like crazy all over the place just for kicks (well, at least that’s true when playing on the higher difficulties, especially if you’re going for a single life speed run). But wait, what is that next to your ammo counters? Why, it’s a Health bar! Get hit X amount of times (X = Health Bar minus Health Square Lost divided by being too slow to dodge) and you’ll be vanished from this earthly plane and must pass the rest of eternity surrounded by the dark flames of… what? Wrong game? Oh, my bad! You just continue right were you got destroyed if you have extra lives to spare on you. To make things interesting, you can actually power up your weapons, health bar, total amount of lives left, current health level or tank speed thanks to pickups that become available as you go along each level or that are placed when they pop out after shooting down and enemy. Died? Then you just lost all your power ups! Since the game isn’t a “one shot and your dead” type of game you can plan accordingly and be more cautious when low on health as loosing all your power ups would certainly put you at a disadvantage. Don’t know about you, but the game reminds me of the Contra/Ikari Warriors franchises which, as a child of the 80′s and beyond, is always great news. Once you find your second Cannon power up things get even more fun and the “run, blast and crush” feeling from back in the day comes to life in many, many colors and shades of said colors that are colorful… color! Be careful as trees (color coded green!) and other elements can provide cover for your enemies and you won’t be able to spot them until it’s too late, just like in the old days! As it has been said, you only have two weapons available: * Cannon: Stong but a bit slow and it has low ammo. What can it take out? EVERYTHING! * Machine Gun: Lots of ammo, very fast but does about 1/10th of the damage the cannon just got us used to. It’s better for smaller, weaker or faster moving enemies or to take down missiles that are making their way towards you. You don’t just run into the usual enemies here and there and call it a day as some of them pop out of the ground below you, and try to be as sneaky as possible about it, with the only goal of exploding once they’re touching your beautiful “jungle green” tank finish and take down your health along with them. What is very fun is spoting one of them damn spiders and racing backwards while your frantic self tries to shoot it as it zig-zags and wobbles on it’s way to your awesome killing machine. Another great thing is how there’s actual Boss battles sprinkled around the game that test you every now and then. Bosses are usually big, wide and powerful… but they also tend to not only get weirder but crazier as you progress on and on. What is the easiest way to defeat them? Lots of power ups, lots of extra lives, slurpee, practice, perfection, non-aspirin and a will of steel. Stay alert! There’s three difficulty settings to choose from with Easy being very, very easy, normal taking things closer to the extreme and hard running the difficulty dial off a cliff, past the extreme and onto the masochistic realm of NES games… and we like it like that! Level 4 introduces another element to the mix: park your tank and take control of one of those annoying, burrowing spider mines! Use your new found “friend” to take out barrier generators so your tank can continue to make some progress and help enemies go BOOM! Eventually actual mines start popping up everywhere which forces you to take things slowly and watch were you step… or force you to just go forward like crazy and hope you have enough health left as to not go BOOM yourself. NormalTanks is a fun, old school, fairly priced, addictive and fast paced game you should add to your collection if you own a PS3 or a PSP. I’ll leave you with this final comment: That Contra vibe I talked about earlier? Tooooootally off the charts once you get to level 8. I smiled oh so much once I got to that final point that it made my day. Review Pros Cons Fun, pick up and play game Old School! Great price Only two weapons available Rating 81% Published by Beatshapers Cost – $2.99 Available on PSN (for PSP or PS3) Want to get this game? The you can: Buy a $20 PSN Card! Buy a $50 PSN Card! Other Information Disclaimer – A copy of the game was supplied by the publisher for this review. – Game was completed before writing this review. – Total amount of time played: 3 hours. Giveaway We also have a US PSN Code to giveaway to a lucky member from PS3Blog.net. Just a FYI you can play the game on a PS3 or PSP. It will be simple to enter this giveaway. You have until midnight on June 29th to enter. Winner will be picked at random on June 30th. Details below: Worth 1 Entry: Just leave a comment below on what you would do with a tank. Worth 1 Entry: Tweet this message and include a link to your tweet with your comment below. Follow @ps3blogdotnet @Beatshapers & retweet for a chance to win NormalTanks! Then post a link to your tweet here http://bit.ly/jTdXod To find a link to your tweet, just click the date under your tweet Worth 1 Entry: Leave a reply on this Facebook Status update with a link to your PS3Blog.net Profile Good luck!

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NormalTanks Review (minis) + Giveaway

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Official Review: MiniSquadron (minis)

@AskPlayStaion , the Official Twitter customer support for PlayStation, PS3, PSP, PSN, and PS2 from Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), just tweeted the following: “PSN currently undergoing sporadic maintenance. Access to the PSN may be interrupted throughout the day. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

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PSN Might Be Interrupted Throughout the Day Today 4/4/2011

Later today, “Music Unlimited” is going to be added to the PS3, but that isn’t the only device. It’s also going to be hitting internet enabled BRAVIA TV’s, Blu-Ray Disc player’s, Sony VAIO’s, and other PC’s along with some other devices like the PSP down the road. It seems like this is going to be a pretty cool addition, access to 6 million music tracks from one device that lets you play games, stream TV shows or even sport games is really making the PS3 a one stop shop. The service is going to come in two flavors. One is going to cost you $3.99 a month and the other is going to cost $9.99. Obviously you are going to be getting some extra content with the $10 price tag as opposed to the $4 dollar one, but that choice is yours. It’s great that the service is going to be available for FREE for the first 30 days, I for one am not to crazy in trying something out just to find out I hate it. Nothing wrong with a little try it before you buy it, know what I mean? Anyways, enough of me, check out the video below to get the full experience:

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Music Unlimited Hitting PS3 Today!

Yesterday was a sad, sad day for music game fans as Activision has confirmed that after several layoffs hit some of their studios… Guitar Hero and DJ Hero are no more . Smaller than usual revenues for their last two music games (that would be DJ Hero 2 and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock) pushed Activision to shut down that division of their business so they can focus in what gives them the most profit: more Call of Duty, the next episode of Starcract 2 and giving us a special glow in the dark mount for World of Warcraft every three months. I LOVE Guitar Hero, ever since the first one was released on the PS2. I took an immediate liking to DJ Hero after trying out a demo unit at a Toys R Us a couple of months after it was released. I own two PS2 wired guitars along with GH 1-3 and Rocks the 80′s, own a full band kit from World Tour along with Guitar Hero 5, GH Metallica, Van Halen, Smash Hits and Aerosmith and I’ve got all the tracks from Band Hero as imported content (thanks sis!) on an SD card. All of these are for the Wii (yep, you CAN own more than one console. Go figure!) in case you were wondering. I’ll miss the franchise since I mostly play drums and the drumming in Rock Band is too much of a stretch for me since the floor tom will magically change into a ride cymbal, then into a crash cymbal and then into a cowbell. Sure, adding the “Pro” kit for Rock Band 3 would take it closer to a proper drum kit experience but that’s an add-on that wasn’t fully supported before. I DO own Rock Band 2 and Lego Rock Band but mainly because I got each for $10 and for that price I can survive some weird drumming here and there. I hope that Activision realizes that music games should be a “once every two years” deal and not a “hey, we’ll launch six in eight months!” Eureka moment. I liked the way that Warriors of Rock’s career mode was handled and the soundtrack in DJ Hero 2 is worth the price of admission by itself. Guess I’ll have to make do with the DLC they’ll release for the rest of Q1 and Q2 before they pull the plug. Should have seen this coming after Harmonix got sold a couple of months ago…

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Activision Cancels Guitar (and DJ) Hero… And I AM Sad

According to VG247 , Disney has restructured into a digital only game publisher. What does that mean for us? The future? Will other devs follow? I guess only time will tell, but its kind of odd since Disney is the reasons we can’t get Kingdom Hearts BBS on the PSP via PSN.

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Disney Restructures Into a Digital Only Publisher