When I originally drafted this post it consisted of just the following eight words “Sonic – What else do you need to know?” As it turns out, Sony are really pushing the boat out with a whole host of other quality content so it’s probably best that I report in full.
This week’s headline act is of course Sonic 4, the modern day re-imagining of the finest platforming action. Earlier on today we reviewed Sonic 4 and you can check out our definitive review here. It may be fair to say that the Sonic franchise has seen more misses than hits since the halcyon days of the 16-bit era, but Sonic 4 looks to be a massive return to form and proves SEGA’s old ad campaign that to be this good takes AGES.
Before we get on with meat and bones of the full update, it’s worth checking in on today’s fantastic update for the PlayStation Plus service, first up is the fantastic news that all the DLC for Fallout 3 will be available this month, this week it’s the turn of Point Lookout, Mothership Zeta and Operation Anchorage, with the remaining Broken Steel and The Pitt following next week. Each batch of DLC will be available on the store for one week only, so if you want it, get it! Alongside Fallout 3’s DLC is a full game trial for Hustle Kings.
Elsewhere, we have the demo for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II which sees Darth Vaders secret apprentice continue along his quest to search for answers, the very fact you can now wield two lightsabres at once should be enough to ensure sales success.
The warm up for next year’s mega-release of Dead Space 2 begins now with the release of a trial and unlock for Dead Space Ignition. Set inbetween Dead Space and the forthcoming sequel, Ignition gives gamers the chance to complete a variety of mini-games which will unlock features in next year’s game, including an exclusive suit.
Finally, a reminder that PlayStation Plus subscribers get the chance to download a Killzone 3 beta theme from 8pm (UK) 9pm (EU) tonight, the first 10,000 to do so will receive a code for access to the Killzone 3 beta.
Special Offers
(Offer prices available until the 27th of October)
- Topatoi: The Great Tree Story (was – £4.79/€5.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
- Topatoi Bundle (Contains full game, Pillar of Skies and Arcade Style Packs) (was – £7.99/€9.99 now – £4.79/€5.99)
- Blue Toad Murder Files – Episodes 4-6 (was – £9.99/€12.99 now – £4.99/€6.19)
- Smash Cars – Virus Run (was – £2.39/€2.99 now – £0.79/€0.99)
- Hyperballoid – Original World Pack (was – £1.59/€1.99 now – £1.25/€1.59)
- Metal Gear Solid – Portable Ops (PSP) (was – £8.79/€10.99 now – £5.19/€6.59)
- Disney’s Tarzan (PSone) (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £3.19/€3.99)
Permanent Price Reductions
- Section 8 (was – £19.99/€24.99 now – £9.99/€12.99)
- Blade Kitten (was – £9.99/€12.99 now – £7.19/€8.99)
- Half Minute Hero (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £11.99/€14.99)
- R-Type Tactics (PSP) (was – £11.99/€14.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
PlayStation Plus
- Full Game Trial Hustle Kings
- Game Add-ons Fallout 3 Packs – Point Lookout, Mothership Zeta and Operation Anchorage
- Theme Killzone 3 Beta (goes live at 8pm in the UK, 9pm CET and 6am tomorrow in Sydney, Australia)
Downloadable Games (PS3)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (£9.99/€12.99)
Downloadable Games – Trial and Unlock (PS3)
- Dead Space Ignition (Trial free, Unlock Key £3.99/€4.99)
Downloadable Games (PSP)
- Tom Clancy Ghost Recon Predator (£23.99/€29.99)
PSP Essentials
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (£7.99/€9.99)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (£7.99/€9.99)
minis (PS3/PSP)
- Crime Spree (£2.49/€2.99)
Demos (PS3)
- Star Wars The Force Unleashed II
- Dragon Ball Raging Blast 2
- Sky Fighter
- Legend of the Guardians
Add-On Game Content (PS3)
- Dead Rising 2 – Skills Pack Psycho (£1.59/€1.99)
- Red Dead Redemption – Hunting & Trading Outfits Pack (free)
- Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2
- Cold War Pack (£3.19/€3.99)
- MIG Alley Pack (£3.19/€3.99)
- Split/Second – Survival at the Rock Pack (£5.49/€6.99)
- WRC – Group B Cars (£3.99/€4.99)
- Moto GP 10 – Twin Track Pack (£3.99/€4.99)
- PAIN – Alpine Ski Slope (£3.99/€4.99)
- EyePet
- Halloween Styling Pack (£2.39/€2.99)
- Soccer Fan Styling Pack (£2.39/€2.99)
- Rock Band
- Are You Experienced: Rock Band Edition (Album) (£9.99/€14.99) (contains all the tracks listed below)
- ’3rd Stone From the Sun’ (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘Fire (Live)’ (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘Foxy Lady’ (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘Hey Joe (Live)’ (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘Highway Chile’ (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘Love or Confusion’ (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘Manic Depression’ (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘May This Be Love’ (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘Purple Haze’ (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘Stone Free’ (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘The Wind Cries Mary’ (£0.99/€1.49)
- Rock Band Network
- ‘America Underwater’ by LoveHateHero (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘Death Metal Guys’ by Reverend Horton Heat (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘Incubus’ by Amberian Dawn (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘No One’s Gonna Love You’ by Band of Horses (£0.99/€1.49)
- ‘Parhelia’ by Heaven Ablaze (£0.59/€0.79)
Add-On Game Content (PSP)
- LittleBigPlanet – Uncharted Costume (£0.79/€0.99)
FirstPlay (PS3)
- FirstPlay Episode 028 (£0.99/€1.20)
Avatars (PS3)
- Söldner-X 2: Final Prototype
- Cyclops (£.40/€0.49)
- EDF Marine (£.40/€0.49)
- Nyx (£.40/€0.49)
- Vielkopf (£.40/€0.49)
- EyePet
- Logo (£.20/€0.25)
- Pet Shocked (£.20/€0.25)
- Police Pet (£.20/€0.25)
- Pet Face Icon Blue (£.20/€0.25)
- Pet Stretch (£.20/€0.25)
Premium Themes (PS3)
- Disruptive
- Aquarium (£1.19/€1.49)
- Soaring Toasters (£1.19/€1.49)
- Von Chrono
- Liquid (£1.19/€1.49)
Themes (PS3)
- Premier Manager Generic Theme 1 (free)
- Sky Fighter Theme (free)
Videos (PS3)
- Asura’s Wrath Announcement Trailer
Source: EU Blog
jikomanzoku
lol, my bad :D
jikomanzoku
removes grumpy hat, shuffles feet furtively
cam the man
If Ubisoft does the same as the first game, anyone who has Hawx2 will be better off waiting until the add-on packs are available in one download, works out a lot cheaper than buying pack by pack.
jikomanzoku
think they did similar with Endgame too (wicked game) so they certainly have form.
AG2297
Do you mean End War :P ?
jikomanzoku
lol, that’ll be the one :D
YOURMUMANDME
Oh man !! I just can’t wait to play the Owls of Gahoole !!
moshi
It will be a hoot I tells ya
John Malcolm
Well, I’d like to buy stuff from the PSN Store – such as the Split/Second add-on and Sonic – but as the store has been refusing my debit card (which they’ve happily accepted for the last 21 months) I can only assume they don’t want people to buy stuff from them with a debit card any more.
I’ve tried other people’s cards (my mum’s) and phoned them (and my bank) up, but still I can’t seem to enter valid credit card details.
I’ve given up with their support lines and ordered a £20 card, but judging by the current incompetence I’ve encountered should I expect the serial number to work?!
DrOf1337
John,
This occasionally happens with the payment portal – it’s happened to me before and is a huge pain in the backside. Basically you’ve tripped a switch in your account and it won’t take any new card details you try – every time you put in a new card it has the same problem and it resets a counter.
What you need to do is leave it alone completely – don’t try to enter new card details AT ALL for seven days. The switch on your account will reset itself as long as you don’t keep trying new details.
I’m sorry this happened to you, I don’t have any control over such things and from first hand experience I know it’s frustrating. You should still be able to put credit on via a code with no difficulties though.
Rising Force
RAAAAAAGEING BLAST!!!!! hope its an improvement…..
AG2297
Star Wars for me thank you!
MadJunkBoy
YEAHH!!!!!!! STAR WARS TFU II DEMO!!!!!!! and gonna buy dead space ignition…… that is a must buy…!! and smash cars virus run… is there anyone who plays smash cars???
Apnomis
Disappointed with the price of Sonic. For an episodic release £10 seems a little excessive unless future episodes are treated as lower priced DLC for this main release.
cc_star
Don’t see that at all, there are 4 episodes which will cost £40 total… £10 I think is proportionately right, and would provide a lot more bang per buck than many retail releases, unless you spend a great deal of time in multiplayer modes, which people only tend to do on select titles.
Apnomis
Yes but this is a PSN release not a full retail release and the business model is completely different and ultimately more profitable for Sega and IMO this should be reflected in the price – It’s Blue Toad Murder Files all over again.
If they were going to do a retail release I’d rather pay £40 unfront for Sonic 4 Blu-ray and have a Platinum to work towards.
But what will happen is they will release them individually at £10, and then probably release a Blu-ray version at the end for £20, or bundle episode 1&2 for a fiver just before episode 3 comes out etc.
I just don’t like the concept of episodic content, unless there is a financial incentive to buy it in that way – after all you’re helping the developer have a more even cashflow and helping them spread/reduce their development risk as they could always pull the plug if it flops. Otherwise why not wait for the game to be finished and buy the complete package at a fraction of the price…
Lymmusic
agree ap, and having tried the demo i’m gonna hold onto a tenner, maybe pick up fallout 3 2nd hand and wait for sonic t o be the plus freebie
cc_star
Prices always come down, so thats hardly a shocker
On the bang per buck front, if it takes 3 hours to play through, then there’s 2 modes, so there’s 6 hours playability right out the box to complete both modes, if you’re a perfectionist and want to 100% it emeralds & Trophies etc, then it probably doubles again.
That compares impossibly favourably to retail and/or most PSN releases.
Zephyre
Was that the sideways scrolling shooter with you playing as an owl, or is that just one of my bad trips?
mugsybalone
Well, it was the early 90’s so I guess either one would be true!
Yellow 13
If I was to buy a 3 month PS+ subscription today, would I be able to get the fallout 3 dlc and would it still work after the sub is over?
cc_star
Everything that is provided free is only valid whilst you’re a member.
Yellow 13
Do you know if it is for existing members only, or if I buy a 3mnth sub today, would I get the DLC?
SpikeyMikey23
I thought that you get to keep everything apart from the ps3 games, including the dlc
cc_star
It’s on the store for a week from today, so if you sign up during that time and download them you’ll be able play them for as long as you’re a member
Klart
Thorpe from the EU blog has stated:
“All the DLC (e.g. Killzone DLC, etc) we are currently offering is not tied to the subscription and you will keep it forever. This will always be the case unless stated otherwise in the description of the content on the store.”