If you’ve been trying without luck to sign in to PlayStation Network this evening, you’re not alone. Large portions of Sony’s online system seem to be currently offline.
While at the GameSpot offices we’re currently able to access the PlayStation Store from a web browser, the system’s storefront is inaccessible by console. And multiplayer games such as Destiny are currently unplayable.
The official PlayStation Twitter account says, “We are aware that you may be experiencing issues with PSN. Thanks for your patience as we investigate.”
The PlayStation Service Status page lists affected areas as including account management, gaming and social, and the PlayStation Store.
We’ll update this story with further details as they’re made available.
This weekend’s PlayStation Network Flash Sale just went live, and it slashes the prices of a lot of different fantasy games.
From now until Sunday at 11 AM PDT, you can grab several games on sale. Some of the highlights include Telltale’s Game of Thrones, which is reduced by 50% to $12.50 on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3; Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen which will cost you only $13.20 on the PS3, a discount of 67%; and Tales of Xillia 2, which is down to $14 on the PS3.
Several PS4, PS3, and Vita games are included in the flash sale. You can see the full list below.
PS4:
Game
Sale Price
Original Price
Bound by Flame
$14.00
$39.99
CastleStorm Definitive Edition
$5.25
$14.99
Game of Thrones
$12.50
$24.99
Hand of Fate
$8.00
$19.99
How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition
$3.80
$19.99
Lego The Hobbit
$10.00
$19.99
Never Alone
$6.00
$14.99
Omega Quintet
$24.00
$59.99
Rack N Ruin
$4.50
$14.99
Road Not Taken
$5.25
$14.99
Shadow Warrior
$7.50
$29.99
Ziggurat
$6.00
$14.99
PS3:
Game
Sale Price
Original Price
Blood Knights
$4.50
$14.99
Bonk’s Adventure
$1.20
$5.99
Bound by Flame
$10.50
$29.99
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
$3.75
$14.99
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
$13.20
$39.99
Dungeon Explorer
$1.20
$5.99
Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara
$4.50
$14.99
Elminage Original
$3.75
$14.99
Game of Thrones
$12.50
$24.99
Lego The Lord of the Rings
$5.00
$19.99
Might and Magic: Duel of Champions Forgotten Wars
$3.50
$9.99
Myst
$2.40
$11.99
New Adventure Island
$1.20
$5.99
Of Orcs and Men
$5.00
$19.99
Risen 3: Titan Lords
$12.00
$29.99
Sacred 3
$12.00
$29.99
Tales of Graces f: Knight Edition
$16.50
$54.99
Tales of Xillia
$9.00
$29.99
Tales of Xillia 2
$14.00
$39.99
Vandal Hears: Flames of Judgment
$3.00
$14.99
Vita
Games
Sale Price
Original Price
Sword Art Online Hollow Fragment
$14.00
$39.99
Hyperdimension Neptunia ReBirth1
$6.00
$29.99
Tales of Hearts R
$14.00
$39.99
Mind Zero
$10.00
$24.99
Fate/EXTRA
$6.99
$9.99
Monster Monpiece
$4.00
$19.99
New Little King’s Story
$5.00
$19.99
Soul Sacrifice
$4.50
$14.99
Valkyria Chronicles 2
$5.00
$9.99
Pocket RPG
$5.25
$14.99
Dungeon Hunter Alliance PS Vita
$6.75
$26.99
Warriors of the Lost Empire
$1.20
$5.99
Which games interest you? Let us know in the comments.
Well, the end of the story that began with the original StarCraft, anyway. When StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void is released later this year, we will know the fates of Jim Raynor and Kerrigan, along with Artanis, the Protoss leader desperately trying to unite his race in the face of Amon’s threat. Before then, however, we will also get a taste of what’s to come: Blizzard will be releasing a free standalone trio of missions called Whispers of Oblivion, which will focus on Zeratul, the Dark Templar who was last seen giving a piece of The Prophecy to Kerrigan. Expect to hear more about Whispers of Oblivion sometime in July.
At E3 2015, I sat down with a quartet of Blizzard talent: Matt Morris, Lead Story Designer; Jason Huck, Lead Designer; Tim Ismay, Design Producer; and Tim Morten, Lead Producer. It takes a village to birth a story as big as StarCraft II’s, of course, and I asked the team a number of questions about Blizzard’s storytelling approach.
GAMESPOT: What’s the story development process like for this? How much does mission design lead where the story goes, and how much does story lead what kind of mission you create?
ISMAY: I would say there’s a lot of back and forth on that. You know, when we announced that we’re going to take StarCraft II and make two or three games out of it, we still had a concept or an idea as to how the whole story would end. Even across all the games, we’ve always had, “Here’s the big moments that we want to show, here’s the big moments.” Working with Jason [Huck], working with Chris Metzen and the lead writer, James Waugh, we sat in the room and just kind of hashed out the big story. And then we take those story points and we come back to the design team. Jason and I work with all the designers, and we sit in a room and say, “Hey, here’s some big pieces. How do we want to create that journey?” And sometimes along the journey we’ll come up to a point where we’re like, “This really is not going to work for the game change,” and we’ll go back to the writer and say, “Hey, can we get some changes here,” and sometimes they’ll look at the story and say, “Hey, I need to make a change.” So it’s very collaborative in that sense.
One of my favorite missions in Wings of Liberty is the one where the supernova is coming across the planet and you have to work really hard to finish fast. How does something like that come about?
MORTEN: Lucky for you, the designer that built that map is right here!
HUCK: That’s a good case of us saying we really want this awesome mechanic, and so in regards to the story with that then, it wasn’t really a critical story moment in there. I mean, you were getting a piece of the artifact. It’s kind of critical, but how you got it was left up to the designers to come up with the game plan. The most important story point there was that Claire must get another piece of the artifact, so we’re like, “Cool. What are we naming this mission?” And so this falls right in there. Get the piece of the artifact before we are destroyed by the wall of fire.
With the prologue and with Legacy of the Void in general, how do you match the excitement levels of the story with the excitement levels of the mission? What have you done on Legacy of the Void to make these pieces more or less match as they move along?
MORRIS: The team that built Wings of Liberty is for the most part still the team that’s building Legacy of the Void, so we’ve got a lot of practice. We’ve been doing this for a while now, and so when we came across these story points, we were able to look at a lot of mistakes that we might have done in the past. We’re able to refine this moment and say, “Hey, here’s a good mechanic that really matches those story points. Why don’t we give this a try?” We’re very aware of making sure that the story is on point with the game designers, but we’re always wanting to make sure that the gameplay is something that drives the story. So I would just say at this point, because we’ve been doing this for so long, we’ve got a really good knack, and so a lot of the missions you’ll see in Legacy and in Whispers of Oblivion are going to show good story and good gameplay, merging them together.
MORTEN: And I’ll say because I observed this from the production side: There’s a feedback loop that happens, so Jason described how to add those story objectives that get set up around a mission. The mission will get implemented and the writers will go back and look at it and think about, “What’s the dialog that should happen around this,” and that might have some influence on the finer points of how this story plays out. After that, they keep going back and forth until it all gels.
ISMAY: Like Matt was talking about, they kind of lay out these tempos of what we want to hit. We want the player to be feeling like, “I’m really winning right now,” or losing, or things are really desperate right here. Sometimes even people that have never played the campaign before will grab someone else and ask them, “How is this vision to you? How do you feel from the audience?” We actually get feedback that says, “I feel like I’m just getting destroyed right now. You know, I won, but I feel like it’s really desperate and I didn’t actually accomplish that much.” Then we’ll talk to the writers and we’ll actually ask, “Is that where we should be in the story, should we be winning right now? Should things be a little dark right now?”
I typically don’t like the opening missions of RTSs. Like, “Here’s one unit, lead it around, like you’ve never played an RTS before.” But with StarCraft II, I love those missions, because they engage in world-building. Can you give me any examples in Legacy of the Void where you teach the player something, but you’re actually doing more than just teaching?
MORRIS: [The opening mission of Wings of Liberty] went through a lot of different iterations. This has been a long time since people have been introduced to StarCraft. The fantasy that we were selling from the very first opening cinematic scene, Jim Raynor sitting there at the bar and he’s seeing Arcturus Mengsk up on the screen saying, “Jim Raynor, you’re a rebel. You’re an outcast.” And it put him in a place of motion as to what is this character all about.
He’s got a small group of guys. He’s just Jim Raynor. So most of those missions are always developed from the idea that he couldn’t go head to head against Arcturus. So that first mission set up that vibe as you went through the whole campaign. He’s very strategic in the way he was attacking those missions. The propaganda was another point in selling the fantasy that, “Oh, the big, bad emperor is brainwashing the backwater civilization here,” and saying, “Jim Raynor’s bad,” and [Raynor] is saying, “No, I’m not bad. Look: I’m helping you out.”
Do you use that same kind of thought process for Legacy of the Void in terms of establishing Protoss characters? There’s something more mystical about the Protoss than “space cowboy” or “evil hive mind.”
MORRIS: We’re definitely in a different spot now, because in Heart of the Swarm, you had to have Wings of Liberty, so we could start missions differently. But we still had to teach you how to play Zerg. We wanted to make sure that was successful. Now that Legacy of the Void is going to be standalone, we now have to think about how there might be a huge audience coming in that haven’t played StarCraft. So there is this thought process of distilling it down to something that’s manageable, and it doesn’t overwhelm the player, so they can understand what it’s like to play Protoss, and what the Protoss want to do. We are taking that path to make sure that it’s successful in that sense, and it’s a very easy transition to a new race that you might not be familiar with.
MORTEN: There is a story mechanic that may be worth touching on in relation to this. There’s one character who’s the engineer on the ship, like the “Scottie.” He’s a mechanic through which new technologies and advancements can be spoon-fed to the player in a way that’s digestible but hopefully still interesting, because as you’re suggesting, it’s story relevant. It’s not just, “Here, learn this mechanic.”
ISMAY: I think it’s something the writers have struggled with as well. We want the characters and the story as a whole to be very relatable, something that you can understand, that you can empathize with these characters. But we actually want it to feel alien, to feel kind of weird. So you don’t want to push it too weird because then it becomes unrelatable, but you make it too human and now it doesn’t feel cool and alien anymore. So that is actually a line that we ride, and I think we ease you into it pretty well.
Is there a danger in losing the player when you write something in which the stakes are so big? I think of something like, when I watch Star Wars, I don’t really feel anything when Alderaan is destroyed, but I do feel something when Luke Skywalker and Vader meet. Is there a danger in losing a personal element?
MORRIS: I think you absolutely said it right, which is that these big moments can be kind of cool, but how’s that impact you as a player being invested in these characters? James Waugh, the writer on this, has done a fantastic job of getting this information to the players pretty quickly without making it too sophisticated. You will be invested in these characters, so when these big galactic moments happen, you’re like, “How did this impact this character?”
MORTEN: This is still Raynor and Kerrigan’s story, so ultimately that does factor into this. Legacy of the Void focuses on the conflict against Amon and the Protoss as a race, but there is still as a backdrop, Rainer and Kerrigan’s story left to resolve.
You’re not saying this is the end to StarCraft forever or anything like that, but obviously you’re bringing this particular story to a close. I’m curious about the mood of the team in general now that this story is reaching its finale.
MORRIS: It’s a good thing for me. I’m actually super excited. Reading reactions to fans as they played Wings of Liberty, and reading the reactions to Hearts of Swarm, there’s a lot of questions that the forums and the general fans have been asking that I wish I could just go in there and answer for them, but I can’t because we haven’t finished the story yet. So I’m really excited to see the story finally come out and people go, “Oh my gosh, that is the story.”
MORTEN: Yeah, I guess it’s kind of a bittersweet ending for me. Like working on a game that I’ve played as a child and now working on it, and being part of the ending, being part of the people to come up with the ending for everything, it’s really awesome at the same time. It’s like, “Wow,” but sad at the same time. We want to give you a really great final ending to the story, to these characters, because we we’re done with StarCraft II. The game’s going to go on, but bringing that closure for everyone is a really good ending.
Star Wars: Battlefront, DICE’s upcoming reboot of the Star Wars shooter series, is getting an alpha test, and you can now apply to be a part of it.
According to Battlefront’s website, players with both a PC and an EA Origin account can apply for entry into the closed alpha. You simply log into Origin and the website will immediately tell you whether or not you’ve gotten into the test.
If you didn’t get in, EA’s website states more chances to play Battlefront early will be announced through the EA social media channels and newsletter.
There’s no information currently about how long the alpha test will last, or if EA will open it up to more people soon. Check back on GameSpot for more news as it becomes available.
Tetsuya Nomura, known for his work on the Final Fantasy series, has done several redesigns of comic book characters in the past. Now, you can check out the first official images of his version of Catwoman.
Designed for Final Fantasy developer Square Enix’s Variant Play Arts line of toys, this Catwoman has received quite the overhaul. In this redesign, she’s equipped with a purple visor, a segmented, spiky metal tail, and some vicious-looking claws on her fingers.
You can check out a few images of the figure below, courtesy of Toy Ark:
Last year, Nomura announced that he had stepped down from his role as director of Final Fantasy XV to focus full-time on Kingdom Hearts III. Square Enix is generally known for its Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and Deus Ex series of games, but also has a robust merchandise branch that’s responsible for these toys.
Nomura has done a bunch of other awesome character redesigns for the toy line, including Iron Man, Batman, Star Wars characters, and Thor. Square Enix has yet to announce a price for his Catwoman figure. We’ll likely see more of the figure next week at San Diego Comic-Con.
FInal Fantasy 7 Remake director Tetsuya Nomura only realised he was in charge of the project when he saw his name in an internal presentation during the early stages of the project’s inception.
Speaking in an interview with Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, as reported by Kotaku, Nomura recalled being approached by Square Enix executive Shinji Hashimoto about a new project.
“Mr. Hashimoto was involved with the advertising and marketing of the original, so like [Mr. Kitase and myself], VII has a strong place in his heart,” Nomura explained.
“As preproduction went along and I offered my opinions on what I thought should be done, Mr. [Yoshinori Kitase, director of the original] would ask me how the individual elements should be adjusted in fine detail. It was very perplexing.”
It wasn’t until Nomura checked an internal company presentation that he realised he was director.
This came as a shock to Nomura. He is currently busy directing Kingdom Hearts 3, which doesn’t have a release date.
“So I called up Mr. Kitase and said, ‘It says that I’m the director for some reason.’ To which he replied, ‘Of course it does’’” Nomura added.
Adam Boyes, VP of developer relations at PlayStation, revealed that the long-awaited remake of Final Fantasy VII during Sony’s E3 press conference.
A CG trailer showed Cloud and Barret walking through the slums of Midgar. It also confirmed Tetsuya Nomura would be directing the remake, with scenario writer Kazuhige Nojima and producer Yoshinori Kitase also contributing.
In an interview with GameSpot, Nomura indicated that the story in the remake might deviate from the one set out in the original, suggesting the remake may be more of a reimagining.
“We’ve announced a HD port version on the PlayStation 4, and then we have the remake coming to PS4,” Nomura said through a translator.
“You’ll have this extremely, very, very pretty FFVII existing on the same plane. We feel that if that happens, it’s like, why have the same exact game?
“We think that if a game is on a certain platform and that platform becomes obsolete, then we’d recommend playing the new port version,” he added.
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has said gaming–across Xbox One, PC, and HoloLens–belongs at the heart of his vision for the future of the company.
In a new mission statement sent to Microsoft employees, posted online by Geekwire, Nadella said gaming will be key in realising a “broader vision for Windows,” as the company seeks to unite all its gaming-oriented initiatives.
“We will pursue our gaming ambition as part of this broader vision for Windows and increase its appeal to consumers,” he said.
“We will bring together Xbox Live and our first-party gaming efforts across PC, console, mobile and new categories like HoloLens into one integrated play.”
Nadella also said Microsoft will aim to deliver experiences centered on the mobility that is enabled by the cloud.
“We will build the best instantiation of this vision through our Windows device platform and our devices, which will serve to delight our customers, increase distribution of our services, drive gross margin, enable fundamentally new product categories, and generate opportunity for the Windows ecosystem more broadly.”
Microsoft named Nadella as its chief executive in February 2014, following the departure of Steve Ballmer. When announcing his appointment, Microsoft highlighted Nadella’s work in establishing the cloud infrastructure behind Xbox, as well as Bing and Office.
In January 2015, Xbox head Phil Spencer announced Windows 10 will support Xbox One game streaming, allowing games to be played on PCs and tablets running the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system.
“We have to put the gamer at the centre of every experience,” Spencer said at the time.
The Ultimate Edition is the most expensive version of the game, priced at $119.99 (£71.99), and includes exclusive Battlepacks, as well as early access to DLC content.
Multiple posts on the game’s Battlelog forum, however, have indicated owners of this version are unable to play the Criminal Activity DLC, while owners of the Standard Edition and Deluxe Edition are unaffected.
Although the content can be downloaded, it is not registering as a validly purchased DLC, according to posts on the forum.
“Ok. it’s not downloading it that is the problem, that works fine but once installed it doesn’t register as a valid purchased DLC,” said one forum user. “When told to do so it says ‘no content’ under ‘My Downloads’.”
Multiplayer producer Zach Mumbach has responded to complaints, assuring players that developer Visceral Games is investigating the problems.
“First off, I apologize. This sucks,” he said. “Right now we are looking at all the digital versions on PS4 to make sure everyone can download. Best update I can give your right now.”
Visceral Games previously detailed the content introduced in the Criminal Activity DLC. Weapons and attachments included were designed to enhance close-quarter combat, while two new vehicles were also added.
Sony has said it is investigating slow download speeds affecting PlayStation 4 customers.
Numerous reports of lengthy download times have emerged online in the past week, and, posting on the official PlayStation community forums, Sony has acknowledged the issue.
“We are aware of reports that some users are experiencing slower than usual download speeds from the PlayStation Store,” it said.
“This has been reported to our network team for investigation. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates.”
Anecdotally, GameSpot staff have encountered lengthy delays from downloading files of various sizes. On initiating a download, the estimated time of arrival begins at 99+ hours. This eventually drops, but not to a time that reasonably reflects the file size and internet speed.
After significant delays, the free version of Evolution Studios’ PS4 exclusive racing sim was given a release date.
“We’ve spent a long time preparing for this launch after some difficult and unexpected set-backs,” said Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony’s worldwide studios.
“To make absolutely certain that all players have the smoothest and most stable experience possible we are going to be duly cautious about how we release the game this time around.”
PlayStation Plus members can download the game and play it offline. Sony has said it will roll out online access and will “steadily bring more and more players online while continuously ensuring that all game systems are running smoothly.”
Posting on the game’s forum, on Reddit, and on Sony’s community help pages, numerous players have said the game displays an error message instead of scores.
“A connection to PlayStation Network cannot be established. Gameplay will continue without Leaderboard access until a connection is made,” reads the message.
The leaderboard is part of Batman: Arkham Knight’s Gotham’s Greatest meta-game, which collects and displays performance data in order to rank the best Batmen.
Publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s last big game release, Mortal Kombat X, also had similar problems immediately following its launch.
“This is something that Rocksteady takes very seriously,” it said. “We are working closely with our external PC development partner to make sure these issues get resolved as quickly as possible.”
