With all of the new information from SCEE's PlayStation Day and the dual EU updates for the PLAYSTATION Store, many US PS3 gamers are wondering what exactly they can expect this week. Here is a list of what is confirmed by the developers to be arriving this week (as well as the unconfirmed content pending developer confirmation).
This week's updates include:
=== CONFIRMED ===
- The Bourne Conspiracy [Demo] (FREE)
- Guitar Hero III DLC - Muse Track Pack ($6.25)
- Haze [Demo] (FREE)
- PixelJunk Monsters ENCORE! [Add-on] ($5.99)
- Race Driver: GRID [Demo] (FREE)
- Rock Band DLC ($1.99 each, $5.49 pack)
=== RUMORED ===
- Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds [Demo] (FREE)
- SOCOM: Confrontation Theme & Wallpapers (FREE)
Note: Though this is a forum post, it's not an opinion - it's a collection from many different sources. The information is timely and updated immediately. This source has been approved as an exception on N4G in the past it links to industry professionals.
(Past Approvals: http://www.n4g.com/NewsPending-100526.aspx, http://www.n4g.com/NewsPending-102785.aspx, http://www.n4g.com/NewsPending-125721.aspx)
TheGamer Writes "Harmonix has proven plenty of times it can make Rock Band work without instruments."
I mean, yeah, but was anyone saying otherwise? The fact is people liked the plastic instruments rather than pressing buttons on a controller. They enjoyed the simulated experience.
"Work"? No, but to be good? It's absolutely necessary. Not having the accessories is like playing a lightgun shooter with an analog stick sure it works, but one experience is completely unique and fun as hell, and other is torture trying to make do playing in a way it was never meant to be played
"trying to make do in a way it was never meant to be played"
I disagree. The accessories were a fun gimmick (and very marketable) but they were added AFTER the genre had been well established with games like Frequency and Amplitude (both also made by Harmonix).
The gameplay formula is different on a controller - there's a focus on switching lanes and contributing to all of the instruments.
Never played Frequency, but Amplitude and Rock Band Blitz were really good. I would love to get more of that kind of game. It's basically a different part of the genre, and stands on its own.
The insurmountable difference in popularity between Amplitude and Rock Band proves my point
Popularity isn't proof of quality. If it was, then Harmonix wouldn't be making music for Fortnite now. lol. Our disagreement wasn't over which one is more popular. Amplitude and Blitz just aren't "torture" to play.
Rock Band 4 and Guitar Hero Live failed to revive their sub-genre, and Rock Band 4 caused Mad Catz to have to file for bankruptcy. Doesn't mean that instrument-based music games are bad.
It does mean that there's too much overhead and risk for anyone to take a gamble on a big budget game that needs instrument accessories now though.
For the genre to thrive, for now, it needs to do so without the instrument accessories. That's just a fact, unfortunately.
VR games like Beat Sabre (a new sub-genre) and traditional music games make more sense and are more viable right now.
*"If quality is always proved by popularity, then Harmonix wouldn't be making music for Fortnite now."
I think CHEAP plastic instruments is THE reason why the instrument-genre ‘died’.
People invested in buying the game AND the peripherals, so the guitar, the dj-set, the drum, whatever, and the experience was absolutely fantastic. Great fun, great music, etc.
But then the instruments would break. A button would stop working, or your hits wouldn’t register, and that kind of hardware failure would end in you not being able to play the game as intended, and thus you not getting the scores you deserve.
So, now you had a great game, but a broken instrument, and nobody is gonna buy a new plastic instrument every 3-6 months in order to keep playing the game.
A solution would have been to release better quality instruments (obviously), at a slightly higher price, so you could have kept the new games coming and the genre alive, but sadly, that didn’t happen.
The only issue I ever had with any of the hardware was the drum pedal on the original rock band set stared to crack in half. The reason I, and other friends I know who played, lost interest is they weren't putting out new tracks that we were interested in anymore. I think earlier this year I looked through the releases for the last 2 years or so, and there was maybe 3 songs I would have bought.
Yeah I had this happen too with my drum controller, I ended up attaching a metal strip to it which fixed it up nicely.
Bust a Groove, Gitaroo Man and Parrapa the Rappa were such good games. Neither needed any extra peripherals
TGC: There was a time when games based on movies were actually pretty good, and The Bourne Conspiracy stands out as one of the better attempts.
Solid movie licensed game indeed. Its unfortunately another High Moon Studios release (i.e. Transformers & Deadpool) with little hopes of a re-release or remaster happening anytime soon, due to expiring license.
As the world reels from the shockwaves of the seismic news that Microsoft is acquiring the proverbial swamp of the video-game landscape, Activision Blizzard King, it only seems natural that our minds should now shift towards what the fallout will be for presumably years if not decades to come.
Another Prototype would be awesome.
As for Singularity, I don't necessarily need a sequel, I just want to see Raven be able to flex their creative muscle again; not just be relegated to assisting with CoD. A lot of the old guard is still with the company.
That's part of what I'm hoping to see come from this acquisition. Revive teams like Vicarious Visions and Ravem to actually allow them to work on their own new projects again.
As great as that would be the deal wont finalize until end of fiscal year 2023. Until after that date MS wont really have a say as to where resources will be spent. So we wont realistically see anything until perhaps 2026 or later.
I think that’s a point that so many people are missing. Things will not change this year or next year at all. Maybe some changes might be apparent in 2024 but 2025/2026 is a good estimate of when things will really start happening. And I don’t think we will see as big a set of changes as some are suggesting.
Those teams having not worked on anything, the employees find jobs at other companies, they don't just remain unemployed till someone at the publisher decides to revive the team, they need to eat lol
That said, this list of games makes me unexcited for anything outside of CoD that Activision has to offer. All games are in stale genres, like Guitar Hero, Simpsons Hit and Run, these are long surpassed genres that are going to be difficult to revive.
@gamer75 if it is a combination it has to have my seal of approval. Such as a new Warcraft game or a new Warcraft mmo, or an action game based off the night elves orcs and humans if it’s a new IP. I’ll let you know after I talk with Microsoft
Man I’ve been waiting for Protoype since the last one. Protoype could seriously be MS’ answer to Infamous (freaking loved that game as well, hope Sony make a new one soon).
That's one I see being tossed around a lot to bring back, even if not from Raven themselves.
Put so many hours into those games over the years.
I'd like to see Activision get the Transformers license again and continue the War and Fall of Cybertron games. the movie games were crap and the game that combined both movie and Fall and War of Cybertron sucked a new Prototype would also be good as well.
You deserve a 1000 likes haha 😂. It’s a shame High Moon didn’t get to continue making Transformers. If they got a decent budget i think most of us TF fans would be excited.
Ms bought Activision and everybody dancing for what? For cod? Ms want to atleast earn some money Back from those 70 billion dollars.... The only thing they count on is more gamepass subscribers via Activision cod, diablo and over watch 2 1st Day free at gamepass. If they decide to make them exclusive to xbox they Will lose profit from ps4 and 5 sales. As For a New ip or an existing ip like over watch 3,diablo 5 or anything else like a New transformers Dont you think that developers need at least 3 years to Do something decent?
Anyway my opinion is that ms want to make videogaming Just a subscription a la netflix and that ps5 will beat xboxsx in sales like ps4 beat xbox and xbox one x..... All the money ms spending It Will defentily make more gamepass subscribers as for games we all must wait at least 3 more years... And thats why ps5 will get ahead in sales they have more AAA in the pipeline already plus lets see their answer for gamepass... P. S i Dont support subscriptions from neither company and i didnt buy switch plus for n64. If they give me the option to buy n64 games then yes i Will buy them but i am not paying for a rental.
Re-imagining of River Raid and the original adventurer Pitfall. Oh Zork is also a great game.
I think we could see some other demos roll in as well, but if this is "all" we get - I'm definitely excited about it! This may turn out to be one of the best weeks for PSN yet!
and even Bourne. It looked kinda cool last time i saw it.
Nice lineup right there
Def going to try Haze
Hot shots golf demo would be great too
I've already paid off Haze so I'm hoping that GRID will turn out great. It looks great graphically (though not GT level) but I'll take that as long as I enjoy the gameplay.
Wow, NEW PSN store is definitely XBLM quality, impressive Sony, impressive.