Castlevania demo leads PSN update

By Robert Purchese Published 29 September, 2010

Plus: Borderlands DLC! DeathSpank! Lara!

There's plenty for everybody on the PlayStation Store today. I hope. Otherwise I'll look stupid for saying that.

There are demos of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (review), MMA, My Sims: Sky Heroes (aerial combat) and WRC FIA World Rally Championship.

There are also free trials of this week's new games: the excellent Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue and TerRover.

All the various Live Season leagues for FIFA 11 are being released this week - as is the game on Friday, plus there's new Borderlands DLC in the shape of Claptrap's New Robot Revolution.

PSP owners can't be told enough times to download the God of War: Ghost of Sparta demo, either.

There are also the Digital Comics Store and Video Store updates to take in. The latter welcomed the new Prince of Persia film to rent, as well as classics Rambo, Snatch, Layer Cake, Crouching Tiger and Bad Boys.

PS3 Special Offers (available until 13th October)

  • Savage Moon (was £6.29/€7.99 now £3.19/€3.99)
  • Savage Moon: Waldgeist Pack (was £3.19/€3.99 now £1.59/€1.99)
  • Brain Challenge (was £3.99/€4.99 now £0.79/€0.99)
  • Brain Challenge: Expansion Pack (was £1.59/€1.99 now £0.79/€0.99)
  • Astro Tripper (was £3.19/€3.99 now £2.39/€2.99)
  • Super Street Fighter IV: Alternate Costume Pack (was £13.99/€17.99 now £7.99/€9.99)

PS3 Permanent Price Reduction

  • Madden NFL Arcade (was £9.99/€12.99 now £6.29/€7.99)

PS3 Demos

  • Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
  • EA SPORTS MMA
  • My Sims: Sky Heroes
  • WRC FIA World Rally Championship

PS3 Games

  • Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (free trial, unlock key £9.99/€12.99)
  • TerRover (free trial, unlock key £8.99/€11.25)
  • Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue (Trial free, Unlock Key £9.99/€12.99)

PS3 Game Content

  • FIFA 11: Live Seasons Pack (Premier League, Ligue 1, Serie A, Bundesliga, Spanish Liga) - £7.99/€9.99 (£1.99/2.49 each)
  • Mafia II: Greaser Pack, War Hero Pack, Vegas Pack, Renegade Pack (£1.99 each)
  • Borderlands: Claptrap's New Robot Revolution (£6.29/€7.99)
  • Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue: The Snowy Mountain Dungeon (£2.39/€2.99), Liars and Cheats (£0.79/€0.99)
  • Sonic Adventure: DX Upgrade (£3.19/€3.99)
  • ModNation Racers: Air Raid Pack (£1.39/€1.75)
  • Naughty Bear: Episode 9: The Treasure of Bear Beard (£3.99/€4.99)
  • Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock: Soundgarden 'Telephantasm' Album (£11.99/€14.99)
  • Rock Band: Snoop Dogg Pack (£7.49/€10.99)
  • Rock Band: 'Closer to the Edge' by 30 Seconds to Mars, 'Coffin Nails' by Atreyu, 'I'm Not Okay (I Promise)' by My Chemical Romance, 'Listen to the Music' by The Doobie Brothers, 'Long Train Running' by The Doobie Brothers, 'Out of Line' by Buckcherry, 'Welcome to the Black Parade' by My Chemical Romance,
  • Rock Band: Anthrax Pack ('Among the Living', 'I'm The Man', 'Indians', 'Madhouse (Live)', 'Metal Thrashing Mad (Live)') - £4.39/€6.59
  • Rock Band Network: 'Cali Girl' by Ba (£0.59/€0.79), 'First We Feast, Then We Felony' by Circus Circus (£0.59/€0.79), 'Hail Destroyer' by Cancer Bats (£0.99/€1.49), 'Leaderless and Self Enlisted' by Norma Jean (£0.99/€1.49), 'Now Demolition' by Evile (£0.99/€1.49)

Minis

  • Beach Buzzin' Chopper (£2.49/€2.99)
  • Apache Overkill (£1.99/€2.49)
  • Future Fight (£3.99/€4.99)

PSP Special Offers

  • Dante's Inferno (PSP) (was £31.99/€39.99 now £23.99/€29.99)
  • Medal of Honor: Heroes (PSP) (was £11.99/€14.99 now £8.99/€11.25)
  • Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (PSP) (was £15.99/€19.99 now £11.99/€14.99)
  • Disney's Action Game feat. Hercules (PSone) (was £5.10/€6.49 now £3.99/€4.99)
  • The Little Mermaid II (PSone) (was £3.99/€4.99 now £3.19/€3.99)

PSP Demos

  • God of War: Ghost of Sparta

PSP Games

  • FIFA 11 (Releasing Friday 1st Oct) (£31.99/€39.99)
  • UFC Undisputed 2010 (£31.99/€39.99)
  • GTI Club Supermini Festa! (£23.99/€29.99)

PSP Game Content

  • LittleBigPlanet: MotorStorm Costume Pack (£0.79/€0.99)
Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • drumbaby #1 2 years ago

    Ooh! Ooh! Hope 'Vania isn't too good, as it's my Xmas game, and it's a long way away. I really have to finish my backlog before I get another!

  • Shikasama #2 2 years ago

    Do similar roundups happen for the Xbox? Or does XBL not do things on a weekly basis?

  • darleysam #3 2 years ago

    When's the Castlevania demo coming to Live?

  • NimbusTLD #4 2 years ago

    Have they announced when the online co-op for Lara Croft: GoL will be ready? Really looking forward to it! :)

  • Widge #5 2 years ago

    I'd love to know how much they've made from LBP DLC...

  • Eldritch #6 2 years ago

    No new Move stuff. :(

  • rivuzu #7 2 years ago

    I echo darleysam.

    When's Lords of Shadow getting a demo on Live? o_O

  • Goodfella #8 2 years ago

    There's no news on a 360 demo at all.

    Had it on pre-order for ages, played the demo on the PS3 the other day and thought it was awesome.



  • Markitron #9 2 years ago

    Weird, I thought the Castlevania demo was a little boring when I played it last week but its been getting great reviews. I feel a little outta sync, which doesnt really matter cos' im boycotting games with giant spiders in them. What has the games industry got against arachnophobics anyway??
    Edited by Markitron at 29/09/10 @ 16:08

  • Goodfella #10 2 years ago

    Well, they have played the full game and not just the demo. ;)

  • Widge #11 2 years ago

    Sometimes demos can leave you feeling a little bland where the game itself if just amazing. I thought the Valkyria Chronicles demo was middling, the game itself was cracking. Exception to the rule for me was Bioshock which was just plain awesome in demo snippet!
    Edited by Widge at 29/09/10 @ 16:37

  • Markitron #12 2 years ago

    @Widge

    Exactly, its rare but great games can have bad demo's. I would also agree that Bioshock had the greatest demo Iv ever played.

    Edit: could make for an interesting forum thread....
    Edited by Markitron at 29/09/10 @ 16:46

  • fabio78 #13 2 years ago

    Best demo ever in history was Duke Nuken 3D with the entire (and best) first chapter for free. You had to be off your tits not to feel like upgrading to the full version after all that awesomeness!

  • layleeloo #14 2 years ago

    Why does the PS3 only put demos on the Thursdays? 360 has update every Wednesday, but they can put major demo's on any day but sony always waits until Thursdays? I wanted to play the MMA demo a few days ago on my PS3 as thats what I had UFC on, so I could compare. Alas, I downloaded it from 360 instead. Also, WRC rally game (which is bloody awful btw) has been on 360 for more than a week. Come on PS3, pull your socks up please.

  • layleeloo #15 2 years ago

    @widge. In my opinion, a great example of this was the Simpsons game a couple of years ago! The demo was basically a boss fight so you had no time to learn anything and I thought god this is shit. Luckily my mate brought it round and the game in co op mode was great. Really fun. But if he hadnt have brought it round I'd have been slating it after that awful demo. The WRC is one of the worst demo's ive seen in years, and was gutted as was so in anticipation of this. So I went and got Colin McRae 4 off ebay on my PS2 as even thats better than WRC demo on 360. These folk should be more careful with demos. I'd rather they do what some people do and not release a demo at all, if it cant capture the game at its best including atmosphere or excitement

  • Goodfella #16 2 years ago

    @layleeloo

    I'm not sure what you're on about (or where you live) but in the UK the PS store is updated every Wednesday. (it used to be on a Thursday)

  • Osahi #17 2 years ago

    Rather liked Castlevania. Pure God of War-ish, but great visuals and style. Was more attracted to it than I had suspected.

    Not too sure I'll pick this up when it comes out though. It's one of those games I'll pick up when it comes down cheap

  • mr2ange #18 2 years ago

    Just downloaded and played the demo, Visually - absolutely stunning, combat felt pretty good for the most part, although the framerate does vary quite a bit.
    Only one downer - its got that delayed feel, in the second section when you are on the horse attacking people from either side, you press square to attack, and its like 2 seconds before you get any response...

    My feeling is that too many games are doing this nowadays, I.e rather than YOU choosing the time to do the move, you actually press the button and a little man in the game engine has a little think before it actually happens... yes ok there has to be animation blending to make things look smooth, but for a game with such slick looking gameplay it feels rather sluggish.
    another game (demo) like this was Enslaved, such a sluggish response time. try putting DMC 1/2/3 on after and it feels so fresh...

    ok rant over, still a fantastic looking game by any standards.

  • ZuluHero #19 2 years ago

    Funny, I never got that delay, but maybe hours of games like this have given me real life lag? :p

    Im really torn between Enslaved and Castlevania. I've loved both demos and both have left me wanting to see more. While both seem great, it all hangs in the balance based on Enslaved's review.

    Why on earth did they both have to be out the same day!

    Edited by ZuluHero at 29/09/10 @ 22:40

  • varsas #20 2 years ago

    @layleeloo: It's Wednesday and not Thursday. PS3 isn't doing too badly with demos being released first on it e.g. Castlevania and Enslaved.

  • layleeloo #21 2 years ago

    @Goodfella and varsas. Well theres something I didnt know. I got so used to thursdays since launch I never knew it changed. I understand some get early releases like Castlevania on Sony, as they have a relationship. But something none platform specific like WRC, its best part of 10 days late? Of course this is just on example but there are more. I may be mistaken in totals but it just seemed 360 get more things earlier than PS3 than the other way round.

  • layleeloo #22 2 years ago

    @mr2ange. But isnt that just the problem with this generation of machines? It is about how beautiful a game is, more than gameplay? Apart from things like WRC which look like a PS2 game. I havn't tried it yet, but you say its sluggish and I agree a fair few have felt like that. Whether thats built into the game play on purpose like in Killzone 2 I am not sure. But it is a concern when there is such emplasis on visuals over gameplay now. 3D will just make this worse. I mean look at the 3D cinema industry - has there actually been a good 3D film yet? No. Avatar for example, absolutely bloody stunning. Drool worthy. As a film it bored me shitless. My fear with Sony's push of 3D is if it goes the same way as cinema we will have more games which lack everything, but look stunning.

    Exceptions to this would be things like wipeout and motorstorm which were already developed and had 3D stuck on later. But I do worry about games being built around 3D just to look pretty. But that is just one element of a game, so what you say about Castlevania and the button response perhaps relating to smooth animation thus affecting gameplay, doesn't surprise me. Visual quality over substance is rarely good. I would rather play some of my great PS2 games that look pretty bad now, than a pretty game that plays badly.

    I'll go download it and have a try myself.
    Edited by layleeloo at 30/09/10 @ 04:19

  • Darren #23 2 years ago

    The Castlevania demo was really good but it's a shame it is so damn short as it left me itching for more. I guess that what a successful should do but with a 15 to 20 hour length the demo felt criminally brief. Pre-ordered it anyway. Even if it is just God of War III in a different skin it should be good because that game's only negative point was that it felt too short at under 8 hours long.