PSN weekly updates

They've published loads. Churn out cheap knock-offs mostly for handhelds. On PSN there's been that COD knock-off. On consoles, they're website lists Modern Combat Domination, Blokus, Earthworm Jim, UNO, Earthworm Jim, Tank Battles, Brain Challenge. I don't mind cheap-and-cheerful, but a bug like this is ridiculous. And makes it 3 for 3 failed coop PSN games for me - Alien Breed - no voice chat. Dead Nation - no voice chat (although added, we replayed and it was quite fun). DHU - great voice chat, no online gaming! Sony's QA when passing these games is terrible.
 
Oops! You posted on the wrong game! I did try to post on the PSN Store thread last night but I haven't been able to log into the EU PSN for a while, presumable thanks to Anonymous. I'll give it go later, although I feel once a blog subject is a few days old, it gets pretty much ignored. I have emailed Gameloft and posted on their forum, so they will be aware of it. The lack of direct feedback from companies is frustrating though. One can only guess the reasons they never reply are the most negative - they have no fixes and will offer no fixes, but don't want to say as much as that will cost them sales.
 
Shifty Geezer said:
Oops! You posted on the wrong game! I did try to post on the PSN Store thread last night but I haven't been able to log into the EU PSN for a while, presumable thanks to Anonymous. I'll give it go later, although I feel once a blog subject is a few days old, it gets pretty much ignored. I have emailed Gameloft and posted on their forum, so they will be aware of it. The lack of direct feedback from companies is frustrating though. One can only guess the reasons they never reply are the most negative - they have no fixes and will offer no fixes, but don't want to say as much as that will cost them sales.
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Aargh, oops indeed. I'll see if I can mend that. But yeah, the official blog does seem to work better than average, because it is then seen by both the company and Sony themselves, and the blog makes a much bigger effort that at least the first day or so stuff on the blog is being responded to, that's why I hurried over there.
 
Got an email response saying they're aware of the issue and are hoping to address it ASAP, so hopefully -2 for release bugs is compensated somewhat with +1 for quick recovery.

Honestly though, how do these bugs get through into PSN games? I don't understand where the blame lies, how much is Sony's tools and QA and how much are the companies. Things like Voice Chat bugs - are they Sony's fault for lousy libraries? It's something of a black cloud over PSN purchases, certainly regards online play. Did Live! have similar issues earlier in its life?
 
It's entertaining as a £10 dungeon Crawler. £7.50 for PS+ persons like yourself. Good for local coop too, and plenty of hours to be lost in it if duration is part of your value equation! ;) There's actually a trial and unlock system, so just play the trial and see.
 
I'm enjoying it quite a bit. It's completely devoid of even the faintest glimmer of personality (heck, even the title is a rip-off. Does Gameloft optimize game titles for search engines?), but it is a perfectly competent dungeon crawler regardless. Combat is nice, speedy and responsive, there's a ton of loot and it isn't even all that easy a game. Maybe it's the character class I've picked (mage), but I'm dying really fast if I don't pay attention. It's a nice challenge. Total sausage fest though. No ladies allowed.

If you like puzzle games I also recommend Chime. The soundtrack alone is worth the price of admission.
 
Yeah, we played it local coop last night and it was entertaining enough. Although its shortcoming are a little frustrating, like being stuck in a dungeon and unable to gate back whenever you want, which means you have to plod off if you want to get to town. The way to solo a mage with powerful spells, instant kills and lots of mana regen, wasn't working for me in multiplayer. I was running out of mana too fast. Sadly it's the same issue most of these games have with magic users, they have extra limits that direct combatants don't have to worry about (core damage dealing is tied to limited energy supply, whereas for other classes energy is for bonus attacks). So I wanted to switch him to a more support role, buffing and hexing, but although there's the Character Resetting Guy in the town for this job (hooray!), we had no way to get to him (boo).
 
I'll adjust my view of Dungeon Hunters to Pretty Good. ;) Played more last night local coop, and it turns out the different characters take on different roles and there's a fair bit of teamwork that comes into play. As a mage I was originally feeling useless, but I came into my own in Act 4, as my magic was extra effective against the creatures there. The lack of armour means I had to stay back and rely on comrades to defend me if needed. And in the same act, the warrior couldn't just jump in with his indestructible armour and had to switch to bows, require a deliberate choice of stats that wasn't just strength, stregnth, strength. As the game is out now on NA PSN store, I do recommend it, certainly for local coop. If you want online coop it may be better to wait and see if the patch ever matierialises.

Oh, one strange thing with the game is documentation is pretty rubbish and misleading. The armour you get from shields is actually 2x that it is rated at, meaning it has a far more pronounced effect than you thought, and makes the choice between two-handed weapons, dual-wield, and single weapon+shield, as all valid choices. A good shield can make the difference between taking low damage and no damage at all. Furthermore, spell descriptions are useless. I tried a spell that was described as "stone hands appear and hit nearby enemies - hold down spell button to target". Its stats were listed as, say, 60 mana, 80-110 damage, 3 seconds cooldown time. In reality it's an area of effect spell where hands come out of the ground and molest baddies, that does the damage rated per second to multiple enemies - nothing like the description and a good spell that shouldn't be overlooked!
 
Have been playing a lot of Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes and can highly recommend it. There is a demo out so give it a go. First puzzle rpg type game i have played but this has made me an instant fan of the genre.
 
Have been watching PixelJunk Lifelike videos and read the articles. I don't get it:

* http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/...emo-an-elaborate-joke-on-the-gaming-press.ars

* http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/08/pixeljunk-lifelike-preview-mad-maestro/

* http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/06/17/e3-replay-the-indescribable-pixeljunk-lifelike/


Why not make it into a Music Unlimited and XMB player visualizer ? Or rename it to PixelJunk Jazz, and allow people to make music like GarageBand "lite" ? Or something to teach people music...

It seems too abstract right now. :-/

EDIT:
Best video is probably this:
[gt]715269[/gt]
 
But what is cool is that Q-Games actually makes this instead of something boring massmarket stuff.
Probably not THAT expensive to make either.
 
I support that kind of mindset, but since they get a chance to make a non-game, might as well make it worthwhile. Development cost does look low.

I mean why this idea, amongst everything under the Sun ?
 
patsu said:
I support that kind of mindset, but since they get a chance to make a non-game, might as well make it worthwhile. Development cost does look low.

I mean why this idea, amongst everything under the Sun ?
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Its the idea they liked? It could be musician guys idea, Baion or whats his name. I have no clue, but it might be worthwhile to them.
And who's to say, when you try it, you'll love and start with substance abuse and never leave your apartment again due to high levels of substance abuse and playing this game? :D
 
They said the prototype/implementation has been brewing for over a year. For something as far out as this, it may take longer to distill and ponder over. Don't rush.

I _might_ like it but it's a very tall might at this moment. ;-)
 
Found a nice tech demo video of PSN-exclusive survival horror title "Amy". Besides looking like one of the big boys, the game actually has a really intriguing concept as well. It is being directed by the guy who made Flashback back in ye olden days. According to Gamespot it had a great showing at E3 too. It was originally scheduled for June 30th 2011, but sadly it just got pushed back to an unspecified date sometimes this fall.
Anyways, I love horror games, and this actually looks like it could turn out to be a proper horror game for a change. You know, once that's actually unsettling for a change. Not just gross.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/06/20/amy-is-survival-horror-evolved-coming-to-psn-this-summer/
 
patsu said:
They said the prototype/implementation has been brewing for over a year. For something as far out as this, it may take longer to distill and ponder over. Don't rush.

I _might_ like it but it's a very tall might at this moment. ;-)
Click to expand...

The other announcement, PixelJunk Sidescroller, is more familiar:

 
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