Full English Soul Sacrifice Presentation Posted

May 12, 2012 | Author: Brad Grenz

Sony Japan has been kind enough to translate their entire Soul Sacrifice announcement event into English and post it on YouTube for the whole world to see. In addition to confirming the early details already reported by Famitsu, the 40 minute presentation includes a good amount of footage from the game, both shot off screen and directly captured, lots of concept art, and talks about the story and gameplay from Kenji Inafune, and the music from Yasunori Mitsuda.

You can watch the whole shebang embedded below! Of particular interest is the third video which has a lot of gameplay footage showing off four player co-op!

Posted in News, Previews | Leave a Comment

Kenji Inafune makes the “Soul Sacrifice”

May 9, 2012 | Author: Brad Grenz

At the PlayStation Heaven “event” in early March this year Sony teased a new Vita exclusive game being made by Kenji Inafune. Most famous for his work at Capcom on titles like Mega Man and Dead Rising, he has since partnered with Sony and Marvelous AQL on Soul Sacrifice, a new magic focused action game for the high powered portable. Chrono Trigger and Xenogears composer Yasunori Mitsuda is also involved in providing music for the project.

According to details from this week’s issue of Famitsu, players will have access to a number of gruesome attack spells based on some form of self mutilation. For example, you might pull out your own spine to use it as a sword. Enslaved by an evil wizard, you will fight against other thralls, including those who have transformed into giant monsters through excessive use of such a brutal for of magic and, one presumes, eventually gain freedom.

The game is scheduled for release this winter in Japan. Sony has already released the following teaser trailer, and more details may be added from a formal announcement by Sony today.

Posted in News | Leave a Comment

Vita Game Heaven Underwhelms

March 9, 2012 | Author: Brad Grenz

Today Sony Computer Entertainment Japan streamed a web presentation of sorts, dubbed Vita Gaming Heaven. They promised both new looks at previously announced games and the unveiling of new titles not yet publically acknowledged. As it turns out, what they published was not a broadcast in the style of Nintendo Direct, but a simultaneous release of a series of videos including interviews with the producers of a handful of the most anticipated Vita games in Japan. Hope was perhaps unrealistically high for what Sony might have up their sleeves, but even the most modest expectations fans might have had were far from met. It’s still early in the life of PS Vita, but at this point it will take a pretty cataclysmic announcement to rehabilitate the system’s reputation. Monster Hunters ongoing and conspicuous absence from the platform still weighs heavily. Here’s a round up of what was announced:

Phantasy Star Online 2: The only new game revealed was Sega’s quasi MMO spinoff of the Phantasy Star RPG series. Currently only available on PC, the Vita version is scheduled to appear sometime in 2013 and will allow cross-platform play with the PC version. The video posted shows a very early version of the game up and running on Vita hardware and already allowing for grouping with PC players. Still a ways off, but pretty big news since the game is not currently available on any console and it’s Monster Hunter style co-op grinding is sure to appeal to the Japanese market.

Keiji Inafune: The second biggest bit of news was a brief message from former Capcom heavyweight Keiji Inafune announcing that he is working on a secret project for the PS Vita. This news might have had more impact if the creator of Mega Man had not let this fact slip out during a presentation he gave this week in San Francisco during the Game Developers Conference. No details about the game have been revealed so far, but Inafune promises something “amazing”.

Most everything else covered in the videos was previously announced. They’ve revealed a few more titles have been added to the UMD passport program for Japan, including some notable absences like Final Fantasy Type-0, MGS: Peacewalker and Monster Hunter Portable 3rd. Interviews with developers behind Persona 4: Golden, Gundam Seed Battle Destiny (one of Namco Bandai’s Dynasty Warriors with Robots titles), Legend of Heroes Zero no Kiseki Evolution and Metal Gear Solid HD Collection were also released, including a few glimpses of gameplay.

Posted in News | 1 Comment

MotorStorm RC Free on Vita, Sponsored by Scion

March 5, 2012 | Author: Brad Grenz

When it was originally announced, the PSN exclusive Motorstorm: RC was described as the first in Sony’s buy once, get both versions strategy for cross-platform PS3 and Vita games. But while the game launched to great reviews and a single, low price in the UK two weeks ago, the American branch of Sony had suddenly become rather evasive about the pricing in the US. This lead to some amount of speculation that in the US you would have to buy each version separately after all. Those concerns were put to rest today as Sony announced a sponsorship with Scion to actually give the Vita version away for free.

The PS3 version will still be a separate purchase for $9.99 and allow for all the cloud-saving, unified progress across both versions that has been promised. If, however, you are only interested in the Vita version, you can have it at no charge starting Tuesday, March 6th. Even if you have yet to buy a Vita, it might be worthwhile to download that version from the PlayStation Store onto your PS3 before the offer expires. That way you’ll have at least one thing to play when you finally take the plunge.

Once the offer does expire, presumably the single price for both versions policy will go into effect at the established $9.99. Either way it’s a good deal for one of the best received games on the Vita so far.

UPDATE 3/6/2012 7:01pm PST:

I can confirm the Vita version can be downloaded and activated to a PS3 from the PlayStation Store. So get the game free while you can, even if you don’t have a Vita yet. There is a PS3 demo of the game as well so you can try it out. It’s supposed to be very good so you may want to pay for the PS3 version anyway!

Posted in News | Leave a Comment

Sony Sets Vita Presentation for March 9th

March 1, 2012 | Author: Brad Grenz

After a strong launch showing, Vita sales have slowed precipitously in Japan over the last few months. Despite recently crossing the 1.2 million sold mark thanks to the launch in Europe and North America, the slow uptake in Japan remains a concern. Perhaps in an effort to address those concerns, Sony has announced a streaming broadcast for next week on March 9th. According to the invitation the broadcast will include new information on unannounced Vita games, new services and presentations from Vita game developers. To watch live visit the official site on March 9th, 20:00 JST (that’s 3AM PST) and check back here for all the biggest news!

Thanks andriasang.

Posted in News | Leave a Comment