This Screen Probably Says Something About Our Excitement For Just Cause 2.

We’ve not been short on our admiration for Just Cause 2, so imagine the party in the office as we type these words: Just Cause 2 is coming in March. Just to further populate the most ridiculous release schedule, like, ever, Square Enix announced that Avalanche’s Just Cause 2 will hit Playstation 3 on the 23rd and 26th of March in the US and Europe respectively.

It still feels weird talking about Eidos stuff as Square Enix and what-not.

Assassin's Creed II : Critically Awesome & Commercially Awesome.

Kudos to the folks at Ubisoft. First of all for making Assassin’s Creed II strides ahead of its predecessor. But secondly, for not flippin’ delaying a big multiplatform title because of Modern bleedin’ Warfare 2. The game’s out in stores now, and by all accounts is selling pretty darn well. In fact, according to Ubisoft the game has sold 1.6million copies since its release last week — 32% more than the first game.

If you don’t have the game yet: you should. Plain and simple really.

More Super Street Fighter IV Newcomers Have Been Revealed In Famitsu.

Remember Final Fight? The first and last good 2D side-scrolling brawler? Ok, so maybe the Streets Of Rage games fit somewhere into that analogy but whatever – bottom line is: Final Fight was rad. Especially when you were playing as the poncy do-gooders Cody and Guy.

Well, soon you’ll be able to reaffirm your affinity with Metro City, as scans from Famitsu clearly show Final Fight’s gruesome-twosome made-over in Super Street Fighter IV get-up. A character called Adon is also shown in the scans, but we don’t really know who he is. Apparently he was in Street Fighter Alpha – which would explain why Cody is donning his less-cool striped prison costume.

EA Montreal Want To Work On Bigger Projects.

EA Montreal might be behind the Army Of Two franchise, but they’ve also done some neat, yet lower profile Nintendo Wii stuff aswell. According to comments made by the company’s general manager Alain Tascan that is set to change. EA Montreal aim to target the HD consoles with “fewer and bigger things”. So basically – less projects, but bloody big ones when they come.

Tascan further explained that the Wii market is “a little bit unpredictable these days,” encouraging a shift to “big, blockbuster-type titles”. Exciting.

Playstation 3: It Only Powers The US Airforce.

Imagine how good Uncharted 2: Among Thieves would look if it was developed for 2,200 PS3s. Yeah, fucking mental. Probably like, a step above real life or something. Who knows. We’ll probably never find out.

Speaking of linked PS3s though, we’ve just got wind that the US Airforce are to purchase 2,200 PS3s. That’s a lot of consoles folks. They intend to hook them all up in order to do some serious number crunching. Do not underestimate the power of Playstation and all that…

The US Airforce already has 300 PS3s, so they’re planning to bring their tally up to a round 2,500.

We wonder if they’ll spare one machine for the tea-room or something. Spot of Uncharted 2 during break or whatever? Lovely.

Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier on Playstation Portable Review.

Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier is an enjoyable title, but it really lacks the personality and precision to bring its throw-back gameplay to life.

What’s It All About?

After a short hiatus, the double-jumping Playstation powerhouses known as Jak & Daxter are back in full force with their eco-sage hottie friend Keira along for the journey. The world is low on eco, and is tearing itself apart as a result. Of course, as the platforming duo you’ll have to double jump your way through the game’s pseudo-sandbox environments to restore it to its former glory.

Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier is part platformer, part dog-fighter, with air-based battles a huge part of the game.

It’ll take you around six hours to beat Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier’s single-player campaign, with numerous side-quests on offer to draw you back into the action.

What We Liked:

• Rich environments. Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier is a bright and vibrant looking game, with some rich characters and solid voice acting driving the story. While environments can look a little plain, the game’s use of vibrant colours make it a very pretty game.
• Eco powers. Alongside the typical double-jumping and shooting elements of The Lost Frontier, High Impact Games have thrown in a few special power-ups, which play a huge part in the puzzle elements of Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier. These power-ups allow you to slow-down time or create make-shift platforms over hazards. They’re hardly going to set the world on fire, but they’re fun to use and vary the gameplay.
• Dogfights. A big emphasis of The Lost Frontier’s gameplay is on dogfights. These make up a fair portion of the game and are really fun to play. The triggers are used for various weapons where as the D-pad allows you to perform barrel rolls. The controls feel really tight in these segments and the graphics are stunning.
• Upgrading. There are lots of customisation options in The Lost Frontier, particularly regarding your ship. You’re able to purchase new modules for your ship, upgrade them and totally overhaul your shuttle in a way that suits your playing style. This offers variety and gives you a reason to play around with your playing styles. You’re also able to upgrade Jak, opening up new abilities to further vary the gameplay.

What We Didn’t Like:

• Dark Daxter sections. Occasionally, Daxter will be infected with a high quantity of Dark Eco. This turns the little man into a massive, lumbering monster and opens up The Lost Frontier’s third gameplay type. These isometric God Of War-esque mash ‘em up sections don’t really fit in with the game’s over-arching feel and, honestly, are a little tiresome to play through. They’re not terrible, just the game’s weakest element.
• Lifeless levels. Many of the levels in The Lost Frontier lack personality. They look rich and vibrant, but they’re just so sparse and forgettable. This is emphasised by the lack of ambient sound in the game world, which can make you feel very isolated.
• Camera issues. This is a 3D platformer on the Playstation Portable. Is it fair to say: “go figure?” It’s often hard to gauge jumps and control the camera due to limitations of the PSP hardware. Perhaps it’s not fair to criticise Jak & Daxter for hardware issues, but hey, it’s no less frustrating.

The Humble Sackboy: Once A Playstation 3 Exclusive, Now A Child Icon and C-List Celebrity.

Read this and then read it again: Media Molecule’s humble LittleBigPlanet is headed into American libraries as part of an Entertainment Software Association-backed initiative, aswell as a $300,000 game design challenge. Sony will donate 1,000 Playstation 3s and copies of LittleBigPlanet to libraries and community organisations. Participants will strive to create levels based on science, technology, engineering and maths.

Of course, we’re sure good PR has a little something to do with those donated Playstation 3s. But hey, this is awesome. And if it gets more kids hands on with LBP and (potentially) results in more fantastic levels, then it really is win-win for everyone.

This story kinda makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

PushSquare's Playstation Pick Of The Week: Gravity Crash.

It’s a Monday. Really? Again? Honestly, the time goes so fast it feels like we’re writing a PushSquare Picks every flippin’ day. Boo! Alas, here’s what we’ve got for you.

PushSquare’s Playstation Pick Of The Week: Gravity Crash [EU/US]

The first PSN game in a while to adorn Pick Of The Week status, Just Add Water’s “Play Create Share” dual-stick shooter honestly looks like the best thing since sliced bread.

Also:

Our American release schedule says Tekken 6 is out on PSP this week, but we can’t confirm that. Other than that, well – all the big games are kinda out now y’know…

Whadda’re Ya Buyin’?

Dude's Gotta Get Clean Somehow Y'Know!

Thanks to some detective work by GoOnline Games (via Official Playstation Magazine) we can confirm a male shower scene in Quantic Dream’s upcoming “let’s try and shock everyone” masterpiece Heavy Rain.

According to a couple of Tweets from the Official Playstation Magazine Twitter page, “there’s a dude in the shower” in the game’s preview code.

Awesome. We don’t really have a problem because we’re straight. All you folks feeling a little uncomfortable, ask yourself this: do you spend a little too long looking in the mirror?

Assassin's Creed II - Awesome, But Unable To Shake The Modern Warfare 2 Steamroller.

Well, this is about as much a shock as Katie Price being voted for a Bushtucker Trial: Modern Warfare 2 has continued its grip on the British sales charts. And that’s with Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed II managing to outperform its predecessor by 12 percent.

Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. Wii was the other big debut this week, with very little interest Playstation-wise elsewhere. Unless you include SingStar: Take That of course.

1. CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2
2. ASSASSIN’S CREED II
3. NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII
4. WII SPORTS RESORT
5. WII FIT PLUS
6. FIFA 10
7. LEFT 4 DEAD 2
8. MARIO & SONIC AT OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
9. FORZA MOTORSPORT 3
10. LEGO BATMAN: THE VIDEOGAME
11. F1 2009
12. MARIO KART WII
13. PURE
14. PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2010
15. PROFESSOR LAYTON AND PANDORA’S BOX
16. LEGO INDIANA JONES 2:ADVENTURE CONTINUES
17. DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS
18. NEED FOR SPEED: SHIFT
19. SINGSTAR TAKE THAT
20. WWE SMACKDOWN VS RAW 2010

You've Just A Week To Wait If You Want To Play This.

It’s getting rave reviews from the publications gamers are supposed to care about, but we always say that the test is in the taste. Bless SEGA then, for putting their upcoming Bayonetta on a silver PSN shaped platter for us. A Western demo will be released as part of the US/European Playstation Store update next week.

Assassin's Creed II on Playstation 3 Review.

Assassin’s Creed II takes everything that was great about the first game and fills it with variety. Set in a much more romantic world with developed chracters and plot, Assassin’s Creed II is everything its prequel should have been.

What’s It All About?

It’s quickly apparent playing Assassin’s Creed II just how close the first game was to being exceptional. The core gameplay remains unchanged in ACII – you’re still a parkour free-runner navigating an historical environment, assassinating historical figures that get in your way. That’s the franchise’s formula, and that’s what was best about the first game.

Assassin’s Creed II takes that core basis however, and floods it with life. The protagonist, Ezio, is now a much more fleshed out character with a plot driving him. The world of Renaissance, Italy is brimming with life and, most importantly, the gameplay now delivers on the variety that the first game craved. Choice is the key word in Assassin’s Creed II, and while there is some semblance of the original game’s repetitive nature bubbling under the surface, Ubisoft often do more than enough to ensure you never get bored.

Assassin’s Creed II is a lengthy game, with the single-player campaign taking well in excess of 12 hours, and sub-campaigns providing more than 20 hours of gameplay in total.

What We Liked:

• The best of Assassin’s Creed. At the very core of Assassin’s Creed II’s gameplay is the traversal of buildings and environments. This remains the same as the first game, and is the franchise’s key element. The parkour gameplay is such an enjoyable mechanic. Scaling buildings and drinking up the view at the top of them fails to become tiresome – even if you played the first game to death. In part, it’s fun because of the game’s engine, allowing consistently beautiful draw distances throughout. But in Assassin’s Creed II, the whole world is emphasised thanks to the beauty of the Renaissance period. It’s dark yet romantic, and constantly engaging.
• The worst of Assassin’s Creed. The worst part of the original Assassin’s Creed was the lack of variety. Ubisoft have fixed that. Assassin’s Creed II is literally brimming with choice. Most notably, the main campaign often sends you on interesting and varied sub-quests. Of course, as in any open-world games, there are missions that are more enjoyable than others, but the most notable improvement in Assassin’s Creed II is the variety. It doesn’t matter if you’re not enjoying the current mission as previous ones, because you know the game is going to change it up. The game is also a perfect sandbox this time around. There are so many ways to get things done. Want to distract guards? Hire some prostitutes, or throw some money to the ground, or poison one of them, or have them chase some thieves. The game’s jam-packed with choice, and that allows you freedom to play it in the way you desire.
• Exceptional audio. The musical score driving Assassin’s Creed II is nothing short of fantastic. It’s creepy and dark, yet subtle enough to draw you further into the world of 15th century Italy. It’s a shame the voice acting never quite reaches the dizzying heights of the orchestral score.
• Vibrant world. Renaissance, Italy is a great setting for Assassin’s Creed II. And Ubisoft really deserve credit for bringing it to life. The game is packed with historical reference and quality architectural design. The game plays with the past for its fiction somewhat, but if you’re looking for something a little different from your sandbox game (i.e. not present-day USA) then you’ll be positively delighted with Assassin’s Creed II.
• Ezio Auditore. Altair was a very well designed character, but he lacked personality. Assassin’s Creed II’s protagonist, Ezio Auditore, is brimming with life. Ubisoft choose to track the character over a large period of his life, giving the character personality and direction. You might not like him, or the choices he makes, but you feel more engaged in him. That makes Assassin’s Creed II’s story infinitely more powerful than the first game.

What We Didn’t Like:

• Combat is poor. With all the improvements made to Assassin’s Creed II, the combat still feels extremely clunky. It still hinges on counter attack gameplay, but it’s hard to correctly execute these moves and the combat devolves into tedious button mashing.
• Dodgy voice acting. It’s nice that you can opt to play Assassin’s Creed II in a native Italian language with subtitles, as it often feels like that’s the way it should be played. In English, the voice acting ranges from fine to dodgy, with some questionable performances by side characters and weak accents. It doesn’t have any emphasis on the story, but it could have been better.
• Terrible character models. Graphically Assassin’s Creed II is stunning. The environments are rich and the engine is capable of ridiculous draw distances. Sadly, the game’s character models are extremely weak. The animation is stiff and the lack of detail makes them look like poor wax models.
• Repetitive voice samples. Assassin’s Creed II’s voice samples are prone to looping a lot. During missions it feels like supporting NPCs are broken records. It just gets irritating.

Noby Noby Boy: Still Amazing.

Remember the over-arching co-operative nature of Namco Bandai’s Noby Noby Boy. That’s right, we’re all increasing GIRL’s length in hope of reaching new planets and subsequently unlocking new levels. Know then that GIRL has finally reached Jupiter after stretching to a length of 576,682,810 miles.

Hurrah! Well done folks.

Crushing On Drake's Fortune Drove Me Mad But, Hey, I Still Played It.

I hate “Hard” modes. I appreciate some people love them and want to challenge themselves. Me personally – nuh-uh. I want to play my games at a reasonable difficulty. I want to have fun above all else. I don’t want to sit weeping into my DualShock replaying the same section over and over just to reach a checkpoint. Thing is – I don’t want to do it, but I do. Damn you trophies.

I don’t think I’d ever even touched a “Hard” difficulty setting until trophies came around. But the first real game I tortured myself with was Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Trophies were new at the time I played the game, and addiction was setting in. I knew I had to brave the infamous “Crushing” difficulty to earn my platinum.

In all honesty, I think I was moments away from being put in a straight-jacket. I’m not particularly terrible at games, but I’m honestly not all that great either. I’m happy to admit that. So haplessly fumbling my way through levels in order to get a checkpoint can be rather stress inducing. I remember one particular part in Drake’s Fortune where you’re in a church. There are snipers up top and soldiers rushing you from all angles. My DualShock slammed the wall a few times. It probably took me an hour or so just to get past that section. But I did it. I earned my Platinum and all was ok again.

Upon completing Crushing on Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, I promised myself never to go to such lengths again in the name of trophies. But a month or so later, I was sitting tearing my hair out over Dead Space’s hardest difficulty level. I must have improved at playing game’s on hard difficulty because Dead Space didn’t quite drive me mad. Until the last level. I remember distinctly my DualShock crashing against the wall ahead of me. Again I beat it – with a semblance of luck this time. But I earned my platinum and vowed never to play on “Hard” again.

Fast forward a year, and here I am, taking a break from Veteran difficulty on Modern Warfare 2. I’m not sure whether I’ve become a better gamer or it’s just kudos to Modern Warfare 2’s design, but I’m not having too much difficulty. I like to hope, that all those frustrating sessions crafting out platinum trophies have made me a better gamer. Maybe my patience has improved. Or maybe, developer’s are just making hard difficulties less unfair.

Either way, I can promise myself all I like. Trophies are making me play these hard difficulties, and I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or not. The bruises on my thigh tend to suggest not.

“Twiggy” is an anonymous PushSquare columnist who has been spotted in three major cities across the globe. It’s rumoured he’s on the run from the British monarchy who accused him of treason.

Previous entries in the “Twiggy” range:

• So, At What Point Do The Games Delayed From Q4 ‘09 Get Pushed Out Of Q1 ‘10? – “Twiggy” The PushSquare Opinionator
• Valve Should Really Shut Their Mouth
• Why You Should Be Playing Siren: Blood Curse This Hallowe’en
• Could Eye Pet Expand The Playstation 3’s Audience?
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Puts A Number Of Hollywood Movies To Shame
• Why Is Everyone So Angry About The PSPgo?
• Playstation 3 Provides More Diversity Than Any Other System Available
• This Is How You Make The Playstation Motion Controller A Success
• The Playstation 3 Is Everywhere These Days, Something’s Changed
• Playing PSone Classics On The PSP Is The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
• Sony Must Be Feeling Bullish After An Excellent GamesCom
• I’ll Rue The Day The Singleplayer Dies
• Please Stop Extending Your Games With Annoying Treasure Hunts
• The Scope Of DLC Is Changing
• Why Do People Promote A Single System Future?
• The Digital Download vs. The Peripheral, Is The Video Game Industry Moving In Separate Directions?
• The Ideas Presented In Mirror’s Edge & Red Faction Guerrilla Will End Up Everywhere
• The Importance Of Exposure Against An E3 Splash: Which Is More Important?
• Sony’s Wand Technology Sent Out A Fierce Message To Competitors Hours After They Comfortably Assumed Victory
• Sony’s First, Second & Third Party Alliances Will Ensure A Thrilling E3 2009 Showcase
• Playstation 3 Is Platformed Out With Bionic Commando & inFamous This Week, And It Reminds Me How Much I Love Super Mario 64
• In A Year Dominated By Blockbuster Sequels, Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain Vision Could Be The Diamond In The Rough
• Here’s What I’d Request In The PSP Go! If I Had A Job At Sony & A Say In Such Things
• Does The Playstation 3 Need Motion-Control & How Will Sony Apply It?
• Why Did Guerilla’s Killzone 2 Force Me To Kill The More Interesting Good Guys? I Hate The ISA!
• Sony’s E3 2009 Press Conference Could Be The Biggest In History & A Turning Point In Software Perception
• A Playstation 3 Pricecut Could Cripple Sony So Stop Asking For It

Critter Crunch Looks Absolutely Stunning.

Capybara’s Nathan Vella loves Sony. He told Gamasutra so. Kinda. Speaking of Sony freely available development suite, the Phyre Engine, Nathan said, “They support the living shit out of it. Any of the parts that are inside Phyre that we didn’t know how to fix or we had an issue with, they would fix it for us in a day. Overall, I think Sony’s doing a lot of right stuff for small independent developers.”

High praise indeed, and it’s not the first time we’ve heard such a glowing appraisal for the engine. It’s not just the support that has Capybara head of heels though. Nathan noted the promotion of Critter Crunch as a great reason to partner with Sony, and the fact that the company treated them like they “weren’t a small nobody developer from Toronto.”

We’ll have a review of Critter Crunch pretty soon.

Now The Playstation 3 Can Error Report. Hurrah.

This isn’t exactly the most amazing news of the week, but consider it a neat way to improve hardware reliability. Firmware 3.10 includes the functionality to send an error report to Sony everytime your system locks up or freezes for no reason. Of course, this data can then be analysed by Sony tech monkeys and fixes can be released based on it.

We told you it wasn’t exciting, but it’s still a neat way of ensuring hardware remains sturdy.

You Can Test Out The PSP's New Digital Comics Service For Free Right Now.

Those of you who have download firmware 6.20 for your PSP will be aware of the new “Extras” tab on the PSP’s XMB. This is a new section used to contain Sony’s upcoming Digital Comics service. The Playstation Store won’t be offering comics until next month, but Sony are eager to let fans check out the service a little early. All you need to do is hit up the Playstation Comics website and enter the provided code into the Playstation Store.

Nice.

In all honesty Modnation Racers was one of our favourite things to come out of Sony’s E3 press conference. The game just epitomises fun. It knows exactly what it is and never really strives for anything more than that. This latest trailer emphasises that. It seems like the game allows you to customise pretty much everything about your car and racer — and of course we all know the biggest draw is in creating your own tracks.

Can’t wait for this.

We're Not Sure About Knuckles, But Eggman Is Adorable.

Just what we’ve always wanted: a Sonic the hedgehog costume pack to dress our  Sackboy with while we play those countless recreations of Green Hill Zone. Hurrah.

Amazingly, this costume pack looks rather awesome, with Dr. Robotnick (Eggman) proving to be the pick of the bunch as far as we’re concerned. No word on a price or date yet, just know, Sonic (and unfortunately friends) are heading to a LittleBigPlanet near you.

Gravity Crash Is Almost Certainly Going To Be Amazing.

Stick it in your PDA. Store it on your mobile phone. Write it in your diary. Tattoo it to your forehead. Do whatever it takes to remember, because this Tuesday (24th November) you’re going to want to be sat in front of your Playstation 3. Why? Just Add Water’s dual-stick shooter Gravity Crash launches. And as far as we’re aware it’s fucking rad as hell.

Gravity Crash is the latest game to be embellished with Sony’s “Play. Create. Share” tag, as it allows you to create your own dual-joystick shooter stages and share them online. The game looks fucking gorgeous to boot.

It’ll cost just £6.29 (€7.99 / $9.99), and there’ll be a day and date demo for those who still aren’t convinced. Just Add Water also announced a PSP version of the game is in development, which is likely to launch in December.