Key events
27th June 2011
21st November 2006
24th January 2006
Sony to offer free games, PS Plus subs in $15m PSN hack settlement
It's a good deal, for Sony. (US only.)
Sony's PlayStation business emerged relatively unscathed (stronger, even) from the PlayStation Network hack of 2011, but the legal ramifications are still ongoing.
Guerrilla making a new Killzone - report
For PlayStation 4?
Guerrilla Games is making a new Killzone game, according to a report.
Sony announces budget US PSP packs
One final software push?
Sony is repackaging a number of first party PSP titles in the US at a budget price point.
As detailed on the PlayStation Blog, a range of Dual Packs go on sale this week for $14.99 (£9.40) a pop.
You can pick up Secret Agent Clank and Daxter; Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow and Killzone Liberation; and Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo.
Killzone developers start new studio
Vanguard Entertainment to work on new IP.
Two of the co-founders of Killzone developer Guerrilla Games have set up a new studio.
Quite a selection for PAL PSN Thursday
But sadly no Commando 3 or Novastrike.
Sony has lined up an admirable selection of items for its European PlayStation Store update this Thursday.
New missions, infrastructure mode.
Sony has revealed that Killzone: Liberation will be the first PSP game to be given downloadable content.
Killzone PSP demo, too.
PlayStation Portable has been updated to version 3.10, bringing with it a handy-sounding volume adjustment tool for normalising sound levels across various media, and an option to conserve memory when using the Internet browser. We've certainly been crying out for that one.
Guerrilla warfare.
Those of you who dilly-dallied back in November about whether or not to buy Killzone: Liberation, can now try it out for yourselves.
It's not what you're thinking.
It's tempting to write a big long introduction about how decidedly average the first Killzone game was here, but that wouldn't be very fair. One article in an official magazine came out calling it a Halo-killer and suddenly everybody in the world was expecting it to be the PlayStation 2's Second Coming and no wonder it was such a let-down when the poor fanboys actually got to play it rather than lying about how amazing it was on forums. Admittedly it was disappointing, but it wouldn't have appeared nearly as disappointing had it not been smothered in such completely unfounded hype, and now it's come to be something of a poster-game for Sony cynics . Poor Killzone. It wasn't its fault.
Thankfully Liberation is in little danger of suffering the same undeserved fate, as the launch of the PlayStation 3 is diverting all attention from the PlayStation Portable at the moment. Seriously, it's a wonder that you even clicked on this instead of gawking at ridiculous eBay listings or watching a video of some American journalists opening a box and using calculatedly neutral phraseology to tell you things you already knew. It's also a very different game - this is a third-person tactical shooter that reminds me a bit of Full Spectrum Warrior (and Laser Squad Nemesis, weirdly, but I'm fairly certain that's just the isometric viewpoint). The only thing it has in common with its ill-fated predecessor is, unfortunately, the rather drab setting, but hidden beneath all the grey-brown scenery and irritating warspeak and tiresomely brash voice acting is an engaging and surprisingly cerebral little game.
Played out as four chapters of five missions each, Liberation presumably fills the gap story-wise between the first game and the forthcoming PlayStation 3 version, setting the stage for a full-scale human invasion of the Helghast home planet. The plot, though, has very little to do with anything, which is just as well considering the uninspirational Killzone premise. Each level is essentially a linear, isometric, war-themed obstacle course populated with pleasingly intelligent enemies, and the emphasis is upon exploiting the environment to gain the upper hand as opposed to spattering bullets all over the place.
First-person perspective ditched.
Some new snippets of info have emerged regarding Killzone: Liberation, the first PSP instalment in the FPS series.
According to a report in OPSM2 magazine, the big news is that Liberation won't be an FPS at all - they're ditching the first-person perspective all together in favour of a third-person viewpoint.
It also seems that there will be a lot more stealth action involved, and you'll have to think a lot more tactically when making your way through missions than in Killzone PS2.
