Okay, following a suggestion last week, I will be trying to expand the category of news I put on here – so, a bit of news you guys may find interesting, is that Fable Legends has been announced to be free to play! Read more below!

As for vita games however, there wasn’t a crazy amount announced, but here’s what I found:

Again, this isn’t an announcement but there hasn’t been an update on this game for a while, so I thought I’d let you know about:

Forma.8 – PS4 & Vita

In the PS Blog, Co-founder of MixedBag, Mauro Fanelli mentions how they’ve missed their late 2014 release date, although a shame, he gave good reasons for the delay:

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Two factors contributed to the delay: first we focused on launching Futuridium EP Deluxe on PS4 and PS Vita and it took a bit longer than expected. Secondly, we decided to raise the bar on forma.8, with a massive visual and technical overhaul.

As you can see below, they’ve definitely improved the effects and design of the game.

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Unfortunately, they haven’t given it another time frame for a release date. reason being they don’t want to miss it again.

Although you could say it’s poor planning, when something you have created takes a new direction, or having the decision to update the artwork, a complete overhaul, there’s no saying how long it’ll take.

Something which can be compared to this, South Park episodes are created in 6 days, reason for this is so that they’re happy with it and if you dwell on something you’ve created, you think of improvements, things you can do to make it better….. but takes longer. Which causes delays and an upset audience. Here’s a story about how there was a power cut at their studio and couldn’t deliver an episode:

http://www.cinemablend.com

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La-Mulana EX – 4th March

Based on the game from 2005, there has been a flurry of improvements by the studio ‘Rising Star’ in conjunction with the original studio who developed the game, NIGORO:

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For starters, the new Monster Bestiary is where you can check out details of every monster you slay and character you meet. It’s useful to read, but you’ll also get to see some wonderful art for the creatures in the ruins. We were amazed when we saw how much previously unseen art there was for La-Mulana, so this was the perfect way to show it off!

We’ve also tweaked the gameplay. La-Mulana lets you go almost anywhere you like from the start, which can be a bit daunting to some. When we first started developing La-Mulana EX, the plan was to have two modes: the original version for returning players and a revised adventure that was more accessible for new players. However, as time went on, we decided to bring both versions together in a way that improves the experience for everyone.

Other things have been improved, the likes of signposting, altered/balanced puzzles and obstacles -Take a look at the video below!

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Now here’s something pretty interesting, if you watch the video below, you’ll see an Asian Skrillex tell you a bit about Bloodborne – and after that you’ll see one a boss ‘never seen before in this world or the next’

When I mentioned about my experience of playing Bloodborne, I mentioned how amazed I was with the character design; and this boss is no different. Take a look at the video below:

http://www.playstationlifestyle.net

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Now here’s a bit of interesting news for those hack and slash fans amongst us, as we are all aware, Hellblade is Ninja Theory’s (DmC, Heavenly Sword) next upcoming game, and this game is of similar genre, it’s pretty obvious to see that Hellblade is the ‘spiritual successor’ of Heavenly Sword, and it may be closer to the original than we originally thought. Being as the art director, Hugues Giboire, that worked on Heavenly Sword, has returned to work on the game.

 

The developer recently let a few people go, and now the team is down to 13, which is pretty impressive considering they’re making a fully blown AAA game and are covering all areas with that little amount of people.

The Cambridge-based studio is still looking for a Character artist, however. You can apply for the position here

http://www.hellblade.com/?p=17942

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Although Sony Online Entertainment have now been dispatched and re-named to Daybreak, they are still on track to release Planetside 2 for PS4, thankfully not as a ‘early access’ paid download, but as a Beta for the EU region. If you wish to sign up for it click on the link below, just enter your email and select your country, and hopefully you should get an E-mail!

https://www.planetside2.com/ps2onps4

The Beta has already been out in the US for a while, and now us Europeans get a taste of the fun, they have not said anything about it already being live for EU, as they’ve just said ‘Soon’ in their tweets:

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PS4 Beta is coming to the EU soon! If you registered previously please re-register and select your country! https://t.co/QdIc2DQW7F

— PlanetSide 2 (@planetside2) February 26, 2015

I will definitely be keeping an eye on my inbox however, and I’ll update you if I get one!

Here’s some closed beta gameplay uploaded a month ago to keep you tied over:

 

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So a bit of news about the Final Fantasy games. 15 and Type-0.

I’ll talk about Type-0 first, being as that is coming out this month, S.E have released a 6 minute video describing what the game is all about, and touting it as ‘a new type of final fantasy’, agreeably, it does look a lot darker and real, rather than how enemies magically disappear when defeated, and turn into little pixie dust and float away.

And don’t you dare mention the dying Chocobo.

There are certainly some interesting changes in this game, with 14 playable characters, choosable in sets of 3, you can mix and match what time of plan of attack you can go out with, and switch between the 3 characters as and when.

http://www.playstationlifestyle.net

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As for Final Fantasy 15, Hajime Tabata has said the game is at 60% done, and that development will be kicked into high gear after the release of the Episode Duscae demo, shipped with Type-0 games.

Tabata was wary about giving a percentage of completion, due to so many variables in the development stage, saying some things may nearly be done while others are in the prototype stage still:

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In some ways I’m being very conservative in my estimates there and not wanting to put out too big a number. Developing big games on a large scale like this you have uneven development processes where some things are nearly done, and others are still at prototype stage.

Something that doesn’t sound too pleasing, however, is this:

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Some things in the middle of development had to be shoved forward to be ready for the public and that’s what we’ve done with the demo.

Although, Tabata goes on to say:

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After that’s released and we continue on with development there may be times where we move on with massive leaps and bounds, so the overall number shoots up by 10 percent at a time.

Hopefully the game will go full speed ahead after the demo release, and I guess there’s still a slight glimmer of hope that the game will be released this year, but if we’re talking percentages, and it took them 9 years to get to 60%, we’ve still got another 5 years of waiting to do. By which time it’ll be named Final Fantasy XXX – Woah, hold on a second. Hopefully, it won’t be.

Released 2 days ago, here’s the trailer for the ‘step into the shadows’ section of the demo

The Final Fantasy games always have an awesome soundtrack, which I always seem to be impressed with, and it seems that this game is no different, judging by the fight at 1:01

http://www.vg247.com/

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Fancy a bit of Xbox news? Sure!

As I mentioned in the title, Lionhead studios announced on their youtube page that Fable Legends will be free to play! Here’s the announcement video, along with a link to Xbox wire to read more about it :

http://news.xbox.com/2015/02/games-fable-legends-free-to-play

The director seems to be pretty level headed on the game and seems to be making the game fair, so you can’t be overpowered just because someone decides to spend a bit of cash on the game.

As for availability, it’s nice to hear it’s coming to Windows 10 platforms, too.

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Anybody curious what this months Games With Gold are?

Xbox Wire announced their games that will be coming to the service this month, and for the Xbox One, you get:

Rayman Legends – Xbox One

Tomb Raider – Xbox 360

Bioshock Infinite – Xbox 360

The blog also mentioned some pretty good news to gold subscribers, mentioning how collectively 100,000,000 games have been downloaded with GWG, and as a celebration for the milestone:

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To commemorate this huge milestone, Xbox is giving you more of what you love, with twice the free Games in April! Next month, you can look forward to four free games on Xbox 360, and two free games on Xbox One.

http://news.xbox.com/

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Here’s some extra news pieces, worth mentioning but I didn’t get time to write up fully:

Zombie Army Trilogy Explanation video

GTA Online Heist date and PC release date – MArch 10 for heists, April 14th for PC

E3 2015 for Microsoft will be ‘Something different‘

Kanye West is making a video game

 

 

 

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Weekly Blog Round-Up

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How the Vita 3.36 eCFW hack works: PSP Kernel exploits explained

Just my 2 cents: The Digital Games Fallacy

Release: OneMenu for Ark-2, by Gdljjrod

Release: ARK-based Hombrew/Backup launcher for 3.36/3.18

PS3s can now run PSP isos without a Custom Firmware

Pokémon Shuffle, a free-to-play game, now more than ever

An introduction to running homebrews on your 3DS

Release: TN-V Bubble ISO Loader Creator by leecherman

Sony celebrates the Vita’s 3rd birthday with free stuff and a massive sale

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Playstation Trivia

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35. Ratchet and Clank 3 contains a hidden Sly 2: Band of Thieves demo

36. An early idea for God Of War was to have Kratos accompanied by a guiding fairy who would annoy him. He’d end up slaying her by the end of the first level

37. Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back had a death animation removed because it resembles the M.D. of a Japanese serial killer active at the time, If Crash was crushed then he became a head between 2 feet. The murderer left a severed head and shoes

38. In Oddworld: Abes Oddysee, The Mudokon Pop was originally a head on a stick but was changed after a murder in Japan where the victim’s head was left on a stick

39. In Borderlands 2, Handsome Jack’s list of construction casualties in the ‘heck hath No Fury’ mission are: Hartnell, W; Troughton P; Pertwee J and Baker T. In other words, the first four Doctor Who actors.

40. In The Beatles: Rock Band, Paul McCartney is credited as ‘Executive Tweaker’

 

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As I should mention, any suggestions as a way of improving my blogs, content and otherwise, are very welcome! Sound off below!

Any websites for sources to obtain stories from would be great, too!

 

 

 

But don’t be too harsh…… Please?
Alas, I didn’t manage to do a mid-week blog; however, here’s last weeks!

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Minimur, WTH Happened This Week? Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Hefty FF XV gameplay demo and more! http://t.co/WKa8GQy9Pa

— Minimur12 (@minimur12) February 23, 2015