Well, it's been almost a month, but Sony has finally begun their "phased restoration" of the PlayStation Network. For those of us in the States and Canada, odds are your service is already up and running.
In a video addressed to Qriocity and PSN uders affected by the attack, Sony Computer Entertaint president Kazuo Hirai details a bit about what the first phase has restored:
PlayStation Network and Qriocity sign in
Restoration of online game play across PS3 and PSP
Enabled third party services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, MLB.tv, etc.
Access to PlayStation Home
Access to 'Friends' category, including Friends lists, chat, and trophy comparison
Restoration of Sony Online Entertainment games
Upon your initial log in, you'll be prompted to change your password, which you must do. Also, PSN Store has yet to be activated, so for those of you hoping you'd be able to buy the latest downloadable game or content, you'll have to wait for a later phase.
Kaz attempts to soothe PSN users by detailing the security upgrades Sony has put into place to prevent an issue like this from arising again: increased encryption, added firewalls, and some other security services that most big corporations should already have in place. Welcome to the party, PlayStation.
The 'Welcome Back' program - see: free compensatory shit - has yet to be detailed, but more information will be released in the coming days, so stay tuned.
Head over the PlayStation.Blog for the full rundown, as well as Hirai-san looking cool, calm, and sharp in his expensive suit sans tie, to give the impression he's been hard at work.
This weekend, Activision has outed one of the worst kept secrets in the industry; Modern Warfare 3 is coming. Just in time for E3 too, what grand timing! Call of Duty games will never stop coming, Activision will see to it until their final breath of bankruptcy. But the question is, will you keep playing said games?
Before I fire off into any type of grand rant, let me say this: I enjoyed Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2. I didn't like any of the older Call of Duty games, nor World at War. I bought into the hype of Call of Duty: Black Ops and quicky tired of the copy-and-paste experience. So what should I expect from Modern Warfare 3? Well right off the bat, the next chapter in the Modern Warfare series has several strikes against it. First, series developer Infinity Ward is a shell of its former self. After a bitter falling out with Activision over unpaid royalties, the evil empire fired IW head honchos Vince Zampella and Jason West. As most good soldiers would, more than half of Infinity Ward's longtime staff resigned, leaving with their captains. Due to the loss of more than a few good men, Actvision restaffed Infinity Ward, keeping alive the name Zampella and West created like some sort of dev house Frankenstein.
Well, something must be wrong with the new Infinity Ward. Maybe Activision didn't trust the folks they plugged into the holes to stop the bleeding. Modern Warfare 3 will be developed by three, yes three studios. The restructured Infinity Ward will craft the campaign together with Sledgehammer Games. The multiplayer component will be handled by Raven Software. Too many cooks in the kitchen? How will the game deliver a consistent experience when there are three different groups working on it? It would require incredible attention to detail, and unification not seen since the Berlin wall toppled. Can you tell that my trust in this task isn't the strongest?
Activision's cash grabbing ways of releasing a Call of Duty title every year means they have very strict deadlines. As Black Ops was crafted by Treyarch, Modern Warefare 3 has been in development since Modern Warfare 2's release in late 2009. That's plenty of time to create a strong game, however with all the drama that's torn through Activision and Infinity Ward since, one would think there would be set backs, conflicts, disagreements and so on. You know, things that would disrupt a development cycle. If so, we haven't heard any of it; Activision keeps cracking its whip to get its next cash cow on store shelves for Holiday 2011, even if it means Bobby Kotick creating character models and animations on his own.
Have you heard that Activision wants you to pay up for multiplayer? It's been mentioned on dozens of occassions by various outlets, and is a pretty well known fact now. Activision considers free multiplayer a gift to the player, and after so many gifts, it's due time to start collecting dividends. The Call of Duty franchise is one of the most successful of our time, especially multiplayer, which keeps the attention of millions held for hours a day, even months (or years) after initial release. Servers and maintenance and the like are expensive, so why should Activision be satisfied with your $60 entrance fee? A nominal stipend to play online - including some extras to make you feel like you're actually getting something in return for your money - is no big deal, right? Actually, it's a huge deal. Should Activision continue along with this plan, the online game model will drastically change. Only a sliver will be put off by the online fee, with enough children convincing their parents to pay up for Activision to consider the experiment a success, thus opening a can of worms that would have been better off untouched. Though none of this is has been mentioned in regards to MW3 let alone finalized, it's only a matter of time before the discussing heats up. Call of Duty is at the peak of its popularity, and there is no better time to introduce an online play fee. I pray I'm wrong.
I'm not sure where I read it, but I remember someone writing Call of Duty has become the sports games of shooters; new players, slight graphical updates, but the same old game. I used to like Modern Warfare, but these days there are too many strikes against Activision for me to begin caring. Besides, I'm much more a fan of space marines than modern day soldiers, anyway. Pink needles, chainsaw bayonets, and powered armor defeat an M4A1 any day of the week.
What is your take on Modern Warfare 3? Are you amped to get your hands on it? Will you be willing to pay a subscription fee for online play should it come to that? Let us know in the comments.
Have a look at your primary dog fighting opponent in the upcoming ballet of missiles, vulcans, and shredded fuselages, Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. His name is Markov, also known as The Shark. If you're lucky, you'll notice him on the battlefield by the shark teeth painted on the front of his fighter jet. Though it's more likely that The Shark will shoot you down before you even realize his sights are locked onto you. Step your game up, kid!
I've been looking forward to Ace Combat: Assault Horizon for some time now, if only for the intoxicating action and camera work, something I've always loved in the Ace Combat series. While that has always been a calling card of the franchise, the story has attempted to stay equally interesting, but most times it's come up a little short. Project Aces is looking to change those fortunes by recruiting New York Times’ bestselling military author Jim DeFelice. Honestly, dog fighting is the crack. Whatever story brought to the table is supplementary to the ratatatatatatating.
Explosions, fast action, destructible (and buildable) environments, and mechs that transform into planes and fly away at mach speeds while firing swarms of missiles. Yes please! The long overdue successor to the PlayStation 3 hit Warhawk looks like a mix of Red Faction and Macross with a bit of the old west splashed in, something I welcome with arms wide open.
Developers Lightbox Interactive held an event in Texas to show off their project. Head over to PSNation for an in depth preview of Starhawk, which looks and sounds to be the next hotness. For those of you with a more limited attention span, the five minute video below tells you most of what you need to know. Treating the battlefield as a canvas, where you can drop structures and defenses wherever you please, and your opponents can destroy them at their whim, in both single and multiplayer. Count me in!
Starhawk is like a flirt at the bar; it looks good and it's saying all the right things, but will it deliver when you bring it home? Fingers crossed.
The title for the latest Dark Souls trailer is 'Prepare to Die'. For any other game I'd be all like CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, you can't kill me! But this is Dark Souls, the successor of Demon's Souls, so I will swallow my pride and accept that I will die horribly on numerous occasions.
The trailer is mostly a montage to some of the many deaths that will befall you, should you be brave enough to challenge Dark Souls. And when it's not quite showing the player dying, it's showing something that will most likely end up killing you very shortly. Demon's Souls was a game for masochists, and Dark Souls is picking up right where the predecessor left off.
Dark Souls will release this October, and in the event PSN is still down at that time, fear not! For the first time, the controller-breaking difficulty of From Software's role-playing series will be available on Xbox 360.
Also comes the news that a preorder will bump you up from standard to the collector's edition for no extra charge. The $60 entry fee nets you a metalbook case, art book, digital download soundtrack, behind the scenes development video, and a mini strategy guide. Trust me, you'll want to preorder if only for that strategy guide alone. Demon's Souls was an incredibly nuanced and complex game, with tons of secrets and strategies that one cannot discover on his or her own. You will need all the help you can get.
I'm quite excited for the announcement of SoulCalibur V, which keeps one of my favorite fighting franchises running. Set 17 years after the conclusion of SoulCalibur IV, the latest entry in the series follows the son of Sophitia, Patroklos, as he no doubt sets out on an adventure that revolves around the Soul swords in some way.
Aw yeah, I'm pumped. The Soul Calibur series not only managed to deliver a deep fighting experience with a whole assortment of interesting characters and exotic weapons, but what it offers outside of that is just as awesome. Unique game types and one of the most comprehensive character creation tools I've ever seen in a fighting game, in SoulCalibur IV. No word on if any of this will return in SoulCalibur V, but really, how could it not?
Here are some images and a teaser for you to fawn over. The series' first sword-and-shield male is kind of a big deal. And before you say anything, no, Lizardman does not count.
If enough people 'Like' Soul Calibur on Facebook, new artwork will be revealed at SoulCalibur's home on the web. Now, get busy!
Oh hell no, girlfriend. You did not just investigate a homicide case! Mmmmmm-hmmmm!
L.A. Noire is set for release in less than a week, next Tuesday May 17. What better way to get you to preorder than with this, a shiny new launch trailer! Said trailer is all about the drama, baby. Car accidents, guns, yelling, guns, dramatic camera angles, yelling, guns! I can't take it any more!
Try not to be fooled by the trailer. If you go into L.A. Noire thinking you're going to get a weapon-heavy Grand Theft Auto fueled kill-spree, you will be disappointed. Me? I'm actually relieved that L.A. Noire goes more the route of drama and crime scene investigation than it does mindless violence and escort missions.
Fans were naturally upset when Gears of War 3 was delayed for marketing purposes, but that anger quickly turned into excitement when Epic announced that it would run a public multiplayer beta. While Epic is using the beta to gather valuable technical data to tweak and refine the game, players are just happy for an advanced opportunity to chainsaw their buddies into bloody giblets.
Every once in a while, an idea comes along that makes you ask "How has this never been done before?" Though the idea of bullet-hell combined with a 'polarity' system was very successfully implemented in the cult hit Ikaruga, the idea was hardly heard from again, until Outland.
Tomorrow is the release of Brink, one of my most coveted gets of Summer 2011, and maybe even the whole year itself. I've really been looking forward to this title for a while now, for multiple reasons. If you haven't, here's a launch trailer to change your mind. Protip: when a dude with a Jason mask is pressing a gun against your eyeball, you change your mind.
Brink is bright, colorful, fast-moving, stylish-looking, and challenging. It benefits players who stick together and operates as a team, and it allows you to react after being assaulted or engage in games of cat-and-mouse, due in part to the mobility of the SMART system, and the comparatively large amount of bullets it takes to drop someone (think Halo).
If you haven't preordered yet, there's still time. Amazon is selling Brink for $55, with a $10 credit and the Psycho Pack, which comes with some pretty slick customization options. What are you waiting for?
Sunday, May 15, 2011 at 4:38PM 
Well, it's been almost a month, but Sony has finally begun their "phased restoration" of the PlayStation Network. For those of us in the States and Canada, odds are your service is already up and running. 
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