Gamernode: Latest PlayStation 3 News

The Orange Box delayed on PS3

After a slew of delays have already weighed heavy on the spirits of eager Half-Life fans, Valve has once again announced that the Orange Box will ship later than expected. This time, however, the delay only applies to the PS3 version of the bundle.

The EA-distributed five-game package, which includes Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 and Portal, will still be shipping on October 9th for both the PC and the Xbox 360, but will arrive "a couple of weeks later" on Sony's system.

Valve's director of marketing Doug Lombardi, who issued the statement, did not cite any particular reason for the delay, nor did he give a concrete release date for the PS3 version. Various online retailers have the game listed for a November 13th release, however, which is c...

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Factor 5 blames reviewer bias for Lair scores

As you may have noticed, the mega-hyped PS3 title Lair hasn't exactly been receiving glowing reviews, but developer Factor 5 thinks they can explain that. You see, it's not their fault.

Project director Julian Eggebrecht had this to say:

"That is exactly the kick of creating a first-year game: exploring the not-yet-finished hardware and growing the technology while the hardware is coming together. I think both Rogue Leader and Lair gave a good stab at poking into the depths of the systems for such early titles, and from that you have a second-generation growth opportunity that surpasses most developers that jump onto the bandwagon later."

He hasn't passed the buck yet, though.

"The Sixaxis motion control itself feels a lot more organic and free-form than the rigid controls of other flight g...

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Devil May Cry 4 plays nice

In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Devil May Cry 4 producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi has said that the newest installment in the series will be "kinder" to gamers than Devil May Cry 3 might have been. That's not to say that the game will be easy, but just gentler on the newbies.

Said Kobayashi, "We had to learn a lesson there, actually, because DMC3 was really difficult. What we found was that people sometimes lost interest within the first two hours because the game just wasn't giving them any chance whatsoever. So DMC4 will be about same difficulty level, but we thought that we would be a little bit kinder to the player, so we're going to give a step-by-step guide on how to use the weapons and skills so that you should naturally progress to a better skill level a little more easily than in ...

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Grateful Dead and more join Rock Band

This press release announced that EA's upcoming Rock Band will feature 18 Grateful Dead songs and they'll be released as downloadable content after the game's initial launch. The 18 songs, which will be master recordings, will feature tunes like Truckin',", "Uncle John's Band", "Touch of Grey", "Sugar Magnolia" and "Casey Jones".

Paul DeGooyer, MTV's senior vice president, said, "Grateful Dead's unique fusion of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, and jazz challenged traditional musical boundaries and pushed the limits of creativity to produce a signature sound that is undeniably their own... Rock Band will give players a chance to interact with the music of these beloved rock pioneers and experience what Grateful Dead did best."

Adding to the growing list of Rock Band songs, IGN revealed four new...

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MotorStorm 2.0 patch available now

Over on the official PlayStation forums, MotorStorm team leader Lestrade announced that patch 2.0 for MotorStorm is currently available on the PlayStation Network. In addition to the patch notes detailed below, two new vehicle packs (including an ATV and a new bike) will be released this month.

So here are the patch notes:

"Our latest update to the game brings you a range of improvements detailed below as well preparing the game for the MotorStorm Revenge Weekend PLAYSTATION Network download pack that will be available to purchase within days and two additional vehicle packs that will be available later this month.

You will find more information on these in the PLAYSTATION Store or within the PlayStation Forums at www.playstation.com in the coming days.

Here's what the patch brings:

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Wall Street predicts PS3 80GB price drop

The talking heads on Wall Street are at it again. High profile market analysts such as Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter and Jesse Divnich of the simExchange are predicting a price drop for the PS3 80GB model down from $599 to $499 according to Gamedaily.

Now wait just a moment there, guys. Didn't Sony just announce, not too long ago, that their PS3 60GB was going to have a price drop from $599 to $499, only to tell us that, "Oh, it's not really a price drop, we're discontinuing the model at a closeout price. But hey, you'll get a brand new PS3 80GB at the new (old) price of $599!"

Michael Pachter says, "We note that Sony recently acknowledged that it will no longer produce its 60GB PS3, and we expect the price of the 80Gb PS3 to be reduced to $499 before the holidays, maintaining a premium ...

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The Tokyo Game Show's playable PS3 games

Sony recently joined the "let's promote our TGS showing" bandwagon, and has released a list of games that will be on display in playable form at this year's event.

Over forty Playstation 3 titles are on the list, with at least 8 unnamed games to be added, and more to be announced in the weeks leading up to the show. Read on for the full rundown:

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Uncharted heroine gets idealized PR treatment

There may come a day when videogames will grow up. Today is not that day.

A new batch of screenshots has been released for the heavily anticipated PS3 exclusive Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and they show a marked difference in the physical appearance of the game's chief heroine, Elena Fisher.

It seems she's been fully altered from a realistically pretty brunette into a Hollywood bombshell. I can't help but wonder why, after all this time, they would see fit to change her physical appearance. A spokesman for Sony is playing innocent by offering the excuse, "They just liked her better blonde." I'm not convinced.

This stinks of PR honky interference.

After all this time, Naughty Dog just suddenly decides to change their original vision for the character into the idealized female? That's one expla...

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Lair is the first to implement remote play

Tomorrow, Lair will become the first Playstation 3 title to be fully playable via the PSP and its remote play feature. Now, rather than simply allowing access to one's music and video collection, Remote Connection will let gamers actually control their PS3 games from afar. Of course, the video quality of the game is greatly reduced on the small screen, but it is still Lair on the handheld, nonetheless.

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Will we get a Killzone 2 demo?

In an interview on Gamereactor, Steven Ter Heide, Killzone 2 producer, and Mathijs de Jonge, Killzone 2 director, talked about the different steps Killzone 2 is taking over its predecessor and hinted that a demo will be released before the game's 2008 debut.

Subjects covered in the video included why jumping wasn't included in Killzone, Killzone 2's hit-response system and enemy AI. Regarding the possible demo, Heide only hinted that he was very in-favor of game demos, especially for FPS, but wouldn't divulge any information about a Killzone 2 demo. I would expect a demo before the game's release though.

Heide discussed why jumping wasn't included in Killzone; Guerilla Games wanted the game to represent realistic warfare as much as possible. This meant that jumping around with several guns o...

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PSN Labor Day additions

Sony has prepared a plethora of new content to be released on PlayStationNetwork this Labor Day Weekend, according to Gaming Nexus.

Those expecting a massive PSN blowout before the bountiful Fall season begins however will undoubtedly be disappointed. With three sport demos, a puzzle game, and an addition to Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection, Sony seems to have hit all the major genres.

Problem is none of these games are heavy hitters in the Sony camp. The closest we get are two videos for Heavenly Sword; another "Making of" video and the fourth part in the Heavenly Sword anime. Beyond this there isn't much to get Sony fans excited.

Here is the official Sony press release:

"Today's PLAYSTATION Store update features Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and a Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection online add-...

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Killzone 2 on the PS3. There was no other choice.....

The sequel to Sony's Killzone game is an exclusive to the PlayStation 3. But according to the developer, Guerrilla Games, it turns out that the PS3 is the only next gen console capable of handling the immense amount of high detail and data included in Killzone 2. 

There was no way that the sequel could have been developed on standard DVD discs.

According to Hermen Hulst, the managing director at Guerrilla, "Xbox 360 doesn't have Blu-ray. PlayStation 3 does. [Just a single level] is 2GB. We really need Blu-ray to make the game. I don't know how you could fit it on Xbox 360 without taking some shortcuts. Blu-ray isn't important for watching movies; we need it for making games." His remarks were made to Official PlayStation Magazine.

Hulst also said that it wasn't just the capacity of the Blu-ra...

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Haze mists into a PS3 exclusive game

We noted this at the E3 '07 convention in July, but Ubisoft confirmed today that their upcoming FPS Haze is now a PlayStation 3 exclusive game. Originally planned for a future release on Xbox 360 and PC, Ubisoft maintained their stance that the PS3 will be the game's lead platform.

Free Radical Design, most known for their TimeSplitters franchise, is heading development of the game and updated the game's website to just display the PS3 logo. Nonetheless, they're leaving the door open for a possible Xbox 360 or PC port in the future.

In Haze, players will don the boots of Sergeant Shane Carpenter, who works for the mega-evil corporation Mantel Global Industries. The company develops a nutritional supplement called NECTAR, which enhances the users' combat, physical and mental abilities. Much o...

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LittleBigPlanet. Is this Sony's system seller?

Consoles have killer-apps -- games which shove hardware units off the shelves and create a devoted following for both the title and the console. The Xbox had Halo. The PlayStation 2 had Grand Theft Auto. The Xbox 360 had Gears of War. The Wii had Twilight Princess.

The only console lacking a killer-ap is the PlayStation 3. Until now. According to The Age, when it comes to LittleBigPlanet, Sony may just have found an undisputable reason for fans to buy a PS3 console.

LittleBigPlanet is a unique twist on the 2D platform genre. Instead of giving gamers a character to progress through multiple levels with varying vistas and hardcore hopping, LittleBigPlanet challenges the gamer to make his own experience. The mantra of "play, create, and share," is central in LittleBigPlanet's ultimate goal; to...

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Virtua Fighter 5 PS3 patch to enable online brawli...

The one yearned-for feature that was absent in the Playstation 3 edition of Virtua Fighter 5 was online brawling. Upon hearing that the Xbox 360 version of the critically acclaimed fighter would include the aforementioned mode, many who had purchased the game back in March for Sony's console were tempted to punch down the nearest wall with the fury of Akira after a bad hair day.

Well, it seems that the revered AM2 (the Sega owned developer responsible for all things Virtua Fighter and Shenmue among others) is quite capable of flipping those frowns upside down.

"In the case of PlayStation 3, our first priority was to convert Virtua Fighter 5 from the arcade onto [the system] as soon as possible," said Tohru Murayama (assistant manager of the studio) in an interview with Total Video Games. "T...

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Sony's Home springs some info leaks

There was a lot of buzz when Sony announced their virtual 3D world for the PS3 called "Home." 

The concept, which loosely resembles Nintendo's "Mii" avatar concept, took this idea and expanded it to a virtual universe where PS3 owners could gather, meet, shop and do other activities in this digital world...and all for free.

According to an insider who has had hands on knowledge of the upcoming program, the following additional details were revealed about Home:

However, other features which were expected with the release of Home such as joining in games, playback of music from the PS3's hard drive and other multimedia functions will be absent.

The idea of just hanging out with your friends or meeting new people via Home will be something that will definitely reshape the meaning of what it is t...

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60GB PS3s drying up at Sony online store

It's been about a month since Sony announced that the 60GB PlayStation 3 would be discontinued at the end of July and according to GamePro, Sony's online store is on the verge of selling out their 60GB PS3 inventory.

In fact, SonyStyle.com listed the 60GB PS3 was on back order for several hours today, but eventually shifted some of the retail inventory to meet the demand of its online store. So this is a very good indication that Sony's online store is close to selling out. But as for retail, looks like Sony's warehouses are still pretty full.

A Sony representative said, "The 60GB PS3 will be available in North America for $499 until supplies of that unit are depleted. We have ample inventory to meet the immediate needs of consumers in this territory for several months to come. We won't be m...

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WarHawk needs 800MB on PS3 even with disk version

WarHawk has just launched and for many PlayStation 3 owners, it is the next big multiplayer game for their system. Without a doubt, WarHawk will be the title Sony fans will be playing this holiday season, and beyond, if they want to satisfy their competitive drive.

WarHawk is unique. It is the first game to give gamers the option to either download the entire game from PSN, or buy a hard copy from the store. The downloadable version costs twenty dollars less, coming in at forty while the hard copy version is going to cost gamers the typical sixty dollars. Naturally, there are incentives to purchase the sixty dollar version. In addition to the WarHawk disk, gamers also receive a Bluetooth headset.

The biggest selling point for the hard copy version of WarHawk is it doesn't take up any space o...

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New Disgaea 3 scans reveal main character

The first scans of a Japanese magazine have splashed onto the internet revealing the new main character for the upcoming PS3-exclusive Disgaea 3.

As with previous games in the series, the cast of characters has once again changed and we'll have a brand new set of personalities to get acquainted with although (thankfully) the art style has remained the same.

The only things we know right now are that the grumpy looking individual below is known as Mao and that the official site for Disgaea 3 will launch on September 21st.

For those people who follow these sort of things, that's also around the time of the Tokyo Game Show and hardcore fans should expect lots of new screenshots and gameplay videos at that time.

[Via NeoGAF]

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Sony's harsh DRM policy on Warhawk

Taking hints from 2K Games and BioShock's SecuROM policy, SCEA revealed that their recently released action game, Warhawk, will feature DRM protection. Up until now, all PS3 downloadable games were sharable between 5 machines at once. But for Warhawk, it's a whole different animal.

The downloadable version of Warhawk will be specifically tied to the one PSN account which was used to purchase the game. This account alone can actually play Warhawk. People who buy Warhawk from the PSN store can still download the game on up to 5 machines at once, but only one account will be able to play it.

So for instance, if you wanted to download the game to a friend's PS3, you'd have to use your PSN account to do this. But if your friend just finished playing Warhawk from your account, (which is on a diff...

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