Call your friends, grab your phone, and — if you’re old enough — crack open a cold beverage. That’s You hits PS4 on July 4, and it’s free for PlayStation Plus members.
That’s You is the first game in the PlayLink series — a group of games that you play on your PS4 using a smartphone or tablet (Which is handy for getting your crew into a game during certain firework-related events!). That’s You is a comedy quiz that features more than 1,000 questions. Find out what your friends really think about you. That’s what the holidays are all about!
For a full list of new games coming to PlayStation next week, read on. And enjoy The Drop!
New Releases: Week of July 4, 2017
Energy Cycle
PS Vita — Digital (Out 7/7)
A new puzzle game from the developers of Energy Balance. When you click each cell on the game field, it changes color, and the colors of adjacent cells horizontally and vertically. Your task to bring all the cells to the same color. Sounds pretty easy — but try to do it!
Ninja Usagimaru: Two Tails of Adventure
PS Vita — Digital (Out 7/7)
Ninja Usagimaru: Two Tails of Adventure is an action puzzle game combo pack of both Ninja Usagimaru games that challenges players to put their sharpened ninja skills to the test! Players assume the role of Usagimaru, a legendary hero who embarks on a massive quest to save a village from the clutches of vile monsters.
Save the Ninja Clan
PS4 — Digital (Out 7/7)
Save the Ninja Clan is a platformer for casual players as well as speedrunners. There are two ways to play this game: play through the normal story mode or find secrets to annoy the Game Manager watching.
SpeedRunners
PS4 — Digital (Out 7/5)
A cut-throat multiplayer running game that pits four players against each other, locally and/or online. Run, jump, swing around, and use devious weapons and pick-ups to knock opponents off-screen!
That’s You
PS4 — Digital
Set off on a journey of discovery with up to five of your friends and family, and find out what you really think about each other. Joining the fun is easy: all you need is your phone or tablet. Snap a selfie and enjoy tons of funny questions, texting games, and drawing challenges.
Toby: The Secret Mine
PS4 — Digital (Out 7/6)
Go with Toby on an eerie adventure in a dark and creepy world full of dangerous situations, enemies, and challenging puzzles.
Calvin Harris – Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1
Carpenter Brut – CARPENTERBRUTLIVE
Stone Sour – Hydrograd
The Boss Baby
A Stork’s Journey
The Last Face
Snowfall- July 5 at 10/9c (FX)
The Defiant Ones-July 9 at 9/8c (HBO)
The Nineties- July 9 at 9/8c (CNN)
The information above is subject to change without notice.
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The team at Vicarious Visions are so excited that the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is finally out! And what a fun ride it has been so far. For this article, we thought it would be fun to focus on the bosses of the N. Sane Trilogy. We know that these baddies are fan-favorites, and we wanted to share our developers’ commentary about working on the characters and delving into their battles.
Kara Massie, Producer at Vicarious Visions: What is the favorite Crash Bandicoot boss that you worked on?
Paulo Dionisio, Lead Boss Designer: The Crash Bandicoot Cortex boss fight, because of the layer of the Aka Aku v Uka Uka battle on top of the Cortex battle, and the three stages of their fight. This makes each phase feel different even though the base mechanic is the same. And in later phases the auto-aim gets turned off, all of which makes this battle feel fun and varied.
Danny Williams, Character Modeler: Papu Papu. Our rendering engine allowed for enhanced butt technology!
James Weir, Character Modeler: Cortex, of course. He’s iconic and has such fun shapes to work with.
Cory Turner, Character Modeler: Tiny Tiger. He has crazy proportions (don’t skip leg day!) and an insane amount of fur. He’s very fluffy.
KM: Which updates did you make that you are happiest with?
Chad Hamlet, Character Modeler: N. Gin’s mechs. I added an actual cockpit so now N.Gin is actually doing things during the fight. And there are tons of details added, like whirling turbines, missile pods, and other things allowing for secondary animations.
JW: It was especially fun and challenging to work with the animators on Cortex in order to deliver what they needed to give him great facial animations. The originals mostly featured him all-teeth and snarling due to technical constraints of the time, but now we can really dial into a bigger range of performance.
PD: The Tiny Tiger fight in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. There are a lot of lovely small moments and details added to this fight, because it was clear that Naughty Dog would have done it if they were remaking these with today’s tech. Like when Tiny grabs the trident, we made it more physical as if it really was being grabbed. The audience has reactions to the fight, for example. Note how they do the wave when the lions come out; and when Tiny gets defeated, they throw tomatoes.
You can take your frustrations out on Tiny at the end of the fight as well, that’s new! There’s also a little Easter egg for those fans that know about the sneaky exploit from the original. Also, listen closely to the lions when you jump on them.
KM: Which boss fight is the hardest to beat?
PD: The original third game’s Cortex boss battle. I mean, this is the last fight so that’s to be expected. But there are a lot of layers of gameplay and during each phase, they change. Interestingly, the fight is hardest at the middle, but the tension doesn’t decrease.
KM: What makes Crash Bandicoot boss fights interesting?
PD: They don’t necessarily have any conceptual or mechanical tie back to the levels just been playing. Which makes them feel like a nice break, and you can see that Naughty Dog really wanted to make them feel cinematic.
KM: What sources of inspiration did you draw upon for creating the boss models?
DW, JW, CT, CH: For one, the original designs. And with these, it was trying to understand if shapes and angles were due to limitation in polygon counts, or were intentional. We looked at the original concept art to try to get an idea of the intentions. Promotional renders were also a source of inspiration. You play and watch the battles as well. I mean, how else do you know what you need for details, range of motion, what needs to destruct or spin or whatever.
We also watched animated feature films for inspiration and to look at some archetypes, especially for facial studies. We studied other remasters/remakes, particularly ones where there was a long(ish) break between the games. We really tried to understand that point at which you’ve gone too far from refining to re-inventing. We also reviewed each other’s work, as a team, because we learn a lot from each other.
You’re having a party at your house. Which Crash boss do you invite over?
JW: Dr. N. Brio, because he could mix up some tasty beverages. CT: …and Dingodile because he’ll bring his own BBQ. CH: Dr. N. Tropy seems like a snob. He’d bring good food, I bet. PD: Dr. Neo Cortex, because I bet he has a lot of crazy stories to tell.
Which boss is most like you?
DW: Papu Papu, because we share the same silhouette. JW: Koala Kong, and ditto.
The original Crash Bandicoot games came out in the mid-to-late 90s, what were you doing back then?
PD: I was in high school studying hard. I wanted to be either an aerospace engineer or a video game designer. JW: High School! I moved around a lot, but I always drew and I always knew I wanted to get into games. I was taking a side class in AutoCAD and teaching myself 3ds Max. CH: I was in art school studying how to be a comic book artist. I had a mohawk, and I was a manager at a Taco Bell. CT: I was in middle school when the original Crash Bandicoot games came out. My best friend had a PlayStation so we’d hang at his house and play it. I was into drawing mascot characters, even back then. DW: In ’96 I was in college trying to learn how to do this stuff. In ’97, I dropped out to work at an animation studio, to learn how to do this stuff. And from ’98 until now, I’m still trying to learn how to do this stuff!
KM: Who would you like to give some shoutouts to?
DW: Big props to our riggers for being open-minded and willing to experiment with the rigging tools. This was so key to help us nail the cartoony silhouettes. They worked really hard on getting the facial and eye rigs to work for what we all needed. And also our rendering engineer, Ace! JW: Bless Ace! We gave him such a hard time in order to get the fur working right. Each time we’d ask for a new feature he’d nonchalantly say, ‘Hmm…’ and come back the next day with it working. CH: The fan reaction to the boss video was cool. CW: Yeh, I love it when they notice all the little things. Like the fact that Tiny has tighty whities!
The Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is now available on PlayStation 4 as a physical disc or a digital download, and we can’t wait for you to experience it! We hope you have as much fun playing it as we did working on it. Thank you for being such a huge part of what we do, and let us know what you think about the game!
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Hi, PlayStation fans! I am Roman from Painted Black Games, a small indie developer, based in the city of Dnipro, Ukraine. The team is working hard on our debut game, a psychological thriller adventure – The Long Reach.
All of us at Painted Black Games are super-excited because we’ve nearly reached the end of the game’s development cycle and the fun part of showing it off will begin soon – we really want to know what you all think of it.
The whole team at Painted Black are big fans of the adventure games. The Long Reach honours the genre by mixing classic adventure gameplay, an intricate story, a gorgeous pixel art style and one little feature which I’m about to present to you.
The game’s story takes place in the fictional American town of Baervox. More precisely, at a scientific research institute where a revolutionary accelerated knowledge transferring system is being developed.
If you hadn’t already guessed it, something has gone horribly wrong. The technology the scientists have been working on has cataclysmically malfunctioned and both the institute and the town have been effected — and not in a good way! The surrounding area has been turned into a real nightmare and the experiment participants have transmuted into… well, we cannot tell you that for now, because we hate spoilers!
The main character, Stewart, is a junior researcher at the scientific research institute. Stewart’s just a regular guy who, under your control, will have to untangle this rapidly escalating situation. Stewart will need to show courage and intelligence to save the world and, most importantly, survive.
The Long Reach includes everything adventure fans expect – lots of dialogue, tricky puzzles, collecting and manipulating items. But, that is not all… We have attempted to create an immersive experience players can get caught up in.
It’s hard to believe now, but The Long Reach was originally conceived as a mobile game! We had to remodel the control system three times! We started with a touchscreen model, then we moved to the tried-and-tested mouse and keyboard point-n-click system. Finally, we honed the controls to use a pad and we’re ready to deliver The Long Reach on PlayStation 4.
As huge fans of the adventure genre there were several titles that inspired us to create The Long Reach. Lone Survivor, The Last Door, The Cave and The Silent Age all had their part to play. Making a good, intricate game for adventure fans was always at the forefront of our endeavours and we hope you have as much fun playing as we have had creating the The Long Reach.
Thanks for your attention and have a nice day!
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Welcome back! Join us on this week’s show as we reveal next week’s new PlayStation Store releases, chat about July’s PS Plus lineup, discuss our earliest gaming memories, and try to figure out the best way to introduce our children (and future children) to the medium of video games.
Send us questions and tips! blogcast@sony.com
Leave us a voicemail! (650) 288-6706
Thanks to Cory Schmitz for our beautiful logo and Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music.
[Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]
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With Spider-Man Homecoming swinging into theaters next month, I got a few minutes to chat with director Jon Watts about his take on Spidey, integrating with the larger Marvel cinematic universe, and what the success of films like Logan and Deadpool mean for comic adaptations.
Also, visit PlayStation Store on your PS4 today to watch four new minutes of Spider-Man Homecoming ahead of the film’s launch on July 7 in North America.
PSB: Do you consider Homecoming to be a Spider-Man origin story?
Jon Watts: Yes, I do. It’s not the same moments of the origin story that we’ve seen before in other movies: we don’t see Uncle Ben die, we don’t see a spider bite. But I think this is the beginning of Spider-Man, in a way. He’s still learning how to be a superhero. In a way, it is an origin story — just not one we’ve seen before.
PSB: Is there relevance to the title “Homecoming” for the story and character?
JW: Well, there’s a superficial meaning because there’s a homecoming dance in the movie. But it’s nice that it also represents a homecoming into the Marvel universe. Spider-Man was created to give a different perspective into this huge world of superheroes. So now that he’s finally in the Marvel universe, I think it’s his homecoming.
PSB: How do you see Homecoming differentiating itself from Sam Raimi’s films and the “Amazing” movies?
JW: The biggest thing, really, is that he’s no longer alone in the universe. The fact that he’s a kid superhero in the world of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy opens up a whole new world of possibilities in terms of stories you can tell. That, coupled with the fact that Tom Holland can play a believable high school sophomore, gives it a completely different feeling than anything we’ve seen before.
PSB: What do you think is the most important thing to get right when portraying Spider-Man? What’s at the core of his character?
JW: It just has to be very clear that Spider-Man is a regular kid. He has to be dealing with the same kinds of problems that a regular kid is dealing with. We also have to know that Peter is smart, and learn about his home life. But ultimately, that’s what makes Spider-Man, Spider-Man: he’s just like you and me.
PSB: Vulture has been rumored to star in several Spider-Man movies over the years, but he never quite made the cut. What circumstances led to him being in Homecoming?
JW: I was attracted to the idea because, for one, he’s one of the very first supervillains in Spider-Man’s world. And two, because it really opens up the possibilities of some very cool action sequences. A guy in a wingsuit fighting Spider-Man? [laughs] That was very attractive to me.
PSB: How will Tony Stark interact with Peter Parker?
JW: Well, it was set up really nicely for me, from Captain America: Civil War. Tony Stark has plucked Spider-Man out of obscurity, taken him on this crazy adventure to Germany taking on Captain America, and now dropped him back in Queens.
What’s fun for me is, now Peter Parker thinks he is basically an honorary Avenger. But…that’s not necessarily the case. So to place him as a kid on the outside looking in, dreaming of being something bigger and finding his place in the universe, is how we’re integrating Spider-Man into this bigger world.
PSB: Will Tony Stark be the mentor, coaching Peter along?
JW: [laughs] I think of Tony Stark as being a reluctant mentor. I don’t know that he necessarily thought this through completely, when he chose this kid to help him out. I don’t know that he realized that this this kid, who is in so many ways much more powerful than him, would suddenly be looking to him for advice. Because Tony Stark isn’t necessarily the best person in the world to be your mentor. [laughs] To me, I think there’s a lot of nuance to that mentor relationship, on both sides.
PSB: Sony’s original Spider-Man (2002) was in many ways the first modern superhero film. What’s changed since then, and how did it affect your vision for Homecoming?
JW: The biggest thing now is that these superheroes exist in a shared world, so you can see them interact with each other. But Raimi’s first film is incredible; when you watch it again now, you realize it’s timeless. They came up with such a fun balance of action, drama, and comedy — it kind of planted the seed that Iron Man then took and ran with. And that began the creation of the Marvel cinematic universe, which Homecoming is now a part of. [Raimi’s original film] still stands up in a lot of ways.
PSB: One of the best movies I’ve seen recently was Logan, which despite being an R-rated comics film, was a huge critical and commercial success…
JW: Yeah. That’s so cool that you can do that now. Make a violent, R-rated Western about Wolverine. And have it be a hit — so exciting.
PSB: Yeah. And Deadpool now, too. Do these more mature films hint at new possibilities for adapting comics and graphic novels?
JW: Yeah. I don’t think people now think of comic-book movies as being a genre. I think audiences have become more comfortable with something that may have originated as a comic-book character — and not having it be a poppy, vibrant story. People who read lots of comics aren’t surprised by this, but not everybody has grown up reading them.
So for the moviegoing public to be much more comfortable with these stories is great, because it opens the doors to a much bigger world of storytelling.
PSB: I tend to think of comics as one of the most authentic storytelling mediums…
JW: Yeah. That was something I could always lean on in creating Spider-Man Homecoming. There are so many years of Spider-Man comics to draw on, so many stories explored in those pages, that for me the possibilities are limitless.
PSB: Preparing for this interview, I had some friends tell me to ask whether “character X or Y” would make a cameo in the film. But let’s save that for the movie. Where’s the sweet spot, in your opinion, between telling a great story, and going into so-called “fan service”?
JW: It has to work if you haven’t seen any of the other movies. It has to stand on its own. All that other stuff has to be bonus. I always think, if my mom watches this movie, and I don’t think she’s seen any Marvel movies, would she understand what’s going on? Would she still be engaged dramatically in the story?
PSB: As for Spidey’s suit itself — how many iterations of the suit did you guys go through before settling on what appeared in Civil War?
JW: I don’t know how many versions they went through — I wasn’t really on board until Tom Holland was hired. But, hundreds and hundreds, I assume. There are so many combinations, different variations of the webbing pattern, the way the suit flexes. There are so many things to take into consideration. Fortunately, Marvel has this amazing visual development department and that’s basically their only job — taking comics characters and bring them to life in a real-world environment.
PSB: Speaking of that, what’s the collaboration with Marvel like? I’m assuming it’s close. Did they provide you with a list of dos and do-nots?
JW: We work really closely. At the beginning, I was really clear about my vision for the movie and making sure nobody would be surprised along the way. I’ve never been in this situation before so I can only speak for myself, but you go into a big job like this assuming that somebody at some point is going to say, “no, you can’t do that.” Amazingly, that never happened. I was able to take these key ideas I had set up early on, and run with them.
PSB: Was there nowhere you maybe had a polite discussion about the best way to proceed…?
JW: It’s always a collaborative process. What’s nice is that you’re working with a group who are basically the biggest fans in the world. [laughs] If anything, it feels like this amazing resource you can drawn on. When you’re brainstorming [different options], and being able to ask them what they think. It’s a great group of people to work with.
PSB: As a filmmaker, any films or film trends out there you’re excited about?
JW: [laughs] Can I tell you, I have no idea what’s going on in the larger world of filmmaking. I haven’t seen anything. I’m looking forward to taking a few weeks off when this film comes out, and catching up on the world.
PlayStation.Blog: You playing any games?
Jon Watts: I’m so behind right now. That game Everything. That one’s great. I love it when a game changes your expectations about what a game can be. I love that game.
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With the chaos of E3 behind us, it’s time to tally the votes and declare the winners of the show, as voted by you! As a reminder, the three categories you voted in were “Best Trailer,” “Most Anticipated PS4 Game,” and “Most Anticipated PS VR Game.” Competition was fierce in all three fields, but each saw a clear winner… and one game in particular won the day in two of the three available categories.
Without further ado… the winners!
Best Trailer
God of War
The God of War returns! It’s been a year since we first got a glimpse of Kratos’ newly bearded visage, and at this year’s Showcase we finally got a better idea of how exactly this story will play out as the team at Santa Monica Studio drops the iconic warrior into a new mythology.
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Monster Hunter: World
Days Gone
Most Anticipated PS4 Game
God of War
Well, I can’t say I’m too surprised here. As it turns out, the final vote tallies for “Best Trailer” and “Most Anticipated PS4 Game” ended up being awfully similar! If there’s one thing we can say about you, our readers, it’s that you’re consistent.
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Monster Hunter: World
Days Gone
Most Anticipated PS VR Game
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
The opportunity to explore Tamriel inside PlayStation VR is alluring indeed — so much so that this was the biggest landslide of all three polls we ran here. Skyrim VR very nearly pulled in as many votes as all three runners-up combined.
Superhot VR
Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XV
The Inpatient
Editor’s Choice
I hope you were able to tune in to PlayStation Live From E3 2017 while we were all in Los Angeles! If not, you missed out on some enlightening developer interviews and live gameplay sessions (including an incredibly tense Detroit demo driven by yours truly). As we wrapped up the festivites, each of the hosts on the show took a moment to nominate a single game as their “Editor’s Choice” pick for E3 2017. Here’s what we picked.
Detroit: Become Human
Chosen by: Sid Shuman
Days Gone
Chosen by: Meredith Molinari
Monster Hunter: World
Chosen by: Malik Forte
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT
Chosen by: Ryan Clements
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Chosen by: Justin Massongill
God of War
Chosen by: Zac Minor
Bonus! If you’d like to watch us deliberate our picks live (well, it was live) from the E3 show floor, click that enticing little “play” button below.
Whew, that about does it for this year’s Best of E3 Awards. Thank you for voting!
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