Category: PlayStation

They say you can’t start a fire without a spark…

Well, Helldivers, we’re about to spark a galactic-scale inferno. Your new Premium Warbond is deploying to all active patriots on 8 August – codename Freedom’s Flame.*

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Incinerate everything standing in your path with new weaponry almost too hot to handle; survive the heat of battle with lifesaving armor; and burn brightly across the cosmos with fresh emotes, capes, and skins.

Right now, swarms of disgusting bugs and packs of mechanized monstrosities are invading innocent worlds.

Stop them… destroy them… cremate them.

Let’s cook, Helldivers. Light it up in the name of liberty!

Firepower

Primary:

SG-451 Cookout
Burn, baby, burn! A pump action shotgun that unleashes a burst of incendiary phosphorus pellets at your helpless enemies.

FLAM-66 Torcher
A lightweight flamethrower shooting pressurized fuel through a nozzle into a roaring, open flame. Sounds safe. It isn’t. Watch where you’re standing.

Secondary:

P-72 Crisper
A flamethrower that fits in your pocket for the Helldiver on the go! What will those guys think of next? This lovely compact handgun projects a jet of freedom flames over short distances.

Booster:

Fiery Drop – Firebomb Hellpods
Scorch the earth (and anything else) below as you touch down with attitude and ignite the dropsite.

Armor:

I-09 Heatseeker
Proudly display the burnished blood-red plates that were forged in righteous fire, like the heroes they were wrought to protect — a true vision of democracy.

I-102 Draconaught
Ah, there’s nothing quite like those satisfying screeches as the enemies of freedom burn. Enjoy it all in this 14-cm sheathed silica fiber foam armor with an exclusive tube-to-ear feature.

Armor Passive
Inflammable! Enjoy 75% damage resistance to fire as you run head-first into danger like the unstoppable legend your mum said you’d be.

Title: Fire Safety Officer
You can now call yourself a Fire Safety Officer. Doesn’t come with a certificate.

Skin: Safety Orange
Repaint your Shuttle, Hellpod, and Exosuit in striking Safety Orange.

Capes & Cards

Purifying Eclipse
A heartfelt tribute to the Liberation of Choepessa IV in the First Galactic War, in which so much orbital ordnance was detonated that its sun was occluded by ash for an entire lunar cycle.

The Breach
The final mission of the 361^st Freedom’s Flame saw this storied unit deploy into the heart of a Supervolcano in a mission of heroic sacrifice. Triggering a huge eruption, this act of incredible bravery wiped out a massive Terminid swarm. As documented in the bestselling graphic novel ‘The Breach,’ it is available at all good book shops on Super Earth.

Emotes

Big Stretch, Deep Reflection, and Thoracic Collision Exultation Manoeuvre Co-emote. If you’re going to win. Win in style.

Freedom’s Flame is rolling out to your Destroyer’s Acquisitions panel on 8 August.

So ramp up the temperature to fry up some tasty justice, served with a side order of delicious grilled democracy.
Tonight, we dine – and dive – in hell.

See you planetside.

*Requires base game, paid purchase of Super Credits, and game progression to unlock. PSN account required.

Hi everyone! It’s a pleasure to be back here to make another Astro Bot-related reveal.

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If you have been following Astro news as of late, then you know Team Asobi have been hard at work on a brand-new game coming out on September 6. The game features over 50 planets, new powerups, lots of enemies, secrets and PlayStation-infused characters to collect. And it also features a DualSense wireless controller turned into a living character and helping Astro on his mission.

Today, it is an immense pleasure to announce that you will be able to charge into Astro’s new supersized adventure along with the cool new DualSense wireless controller – Astro Bot Limited Edition.

We know many of you were hoping for this after seeing the game trailer. So, we quickly asked our lovely bots to engineer this beauty and tada! No, no, I’m just kidding; it had been in the making for some time, carefully crafted by the amazing teams at SIE. And what splendid work they did.

The controller’s design features Astro’s signature blue accents on the handles and buttons, carved-in, sci-fi lines as well as the trademark playful pair of eyes on the touch pad.  It is a true work of art, and we could not be happier with the end-result at Team Asobi. 

With this dynamic addition to your set-up, a supersized space adventure awaits… 

The DualSense wireless controller – Astro Bot Limited Edition will be available in limited quantity in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam for SGD 114 / MYR 399 / IDR 1,449,000 / THB 2,690 / PHP 4,590 / VND 2,299,000 and will launch on September 6, day-in-date with the launch of Astro Bot

Pre-orders will be available through local retailers starting from Friday, August 9, 2024.

I will take this chance to summarize some of the cool things this new Astro Bot game does with the DualSense wireless controller

First, as many of you expect from an Astro game, you can feel the surfaces that Astro runs and slides on, from grass, sand, metal to more squishy textures or water. That was already the case with Astro’s Playroom, but we have increased the number of textures you can feel through the controller.

Next, we doubled down on the adaptive triggers combined with haptic feedback, by tying them tightly to Astro’s new powers. For example, when using Barkster, the bulldog Jetpack, you can feel the thruster ratting against your finger in synch with the animation, giving a very dynamic and immersive feeling. Every new power up has been given that same special treatment so you will be able to experience various expressions through your fingers.

Finally, given the number of enemies and boss battles we added to this new adventure, it was important to work on battle and impacts by combining all of the above. Whether it’s stretching, pounding or pummeling hard surfaces, there are many new types of impacts that can be experienced in Astro Bot. 

And of course, we could not finish this post without mentioning the Dual Speeder, one of Astro’s most recurrent gadgets, allowing him to fly into various planets. The Dual Speeder makes full use of motion control, adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. Here is a piece of very early concept art and how it looks in the final game.

That’s all from us! We’ll be back soon for more news around Astro Bot. Until then, please tell us in the comments what you think of this cool DualSense wireless controller – Astro Bot Limited Edition!

Astro Bot is out on PS5 on September 6, we are waiting for you all to join Astro for his first big new adventure.

Team Asobi out.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an upcoming RPG and the first release from French development team Sandfall Interactive. The game’s unique design combines fantasy and the French historical period of Belle Epoque. Currently, the stylish game is slated for a 2025 release on PS5, check out the reveal trailer if you haven’t already. 

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To get a deeper dive into what’s going into this promising game, I spoke with Guillaume Broche, founder & creative director at Sandfall Interactive about the game’s unique approach to classic, turn-based RPG gameplay, classic inspirations, and even the unqiue game title itself.

What’s in a name?

One aspect of intrigue for the game is its title, so I asked Broche about the inspiration behind it. 

“‘Clair Obscur’ refers to the real-world artistic and cultural movement in France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,” says Broche. “It influenced the game’s artistic direction, and also refers to the overarching world of the game.” 

“Expedition 33 reflects the Expedition group led by the protagonist Gustave to destroy the Paintress,” says Broche. “The members of Expedition 33 are the protagonists of the game, and players will get to know each member of the Expedition in their journey. For years, the Paintress has painted a number on her monolith and erased everyone of that age in an event known as the Gommage, and each year a new Expedition ventures out to try to destroy her and stop the cursed cycle.” 

Other characters, such as the mage Lune, the genial warrior Sciel, and the young explorer Maelle are also part of the team, and you’ll be learning a lot about them and their histories throughout the game. 

Respecting the classics

In the reveal trailer we got a glimpse of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s eye-catching graphics. Broche explains that the graphics are one of the focal points for the developers. 

“There hasn’t really been any attempt at making a turn-based RPG with high-fidelity graphics for a good while,” he says, “and that left a deep hole in my gamer heart. We took it upon ourselves to make something to fill that void.”

Broche doesn’t hesitate to tell us about the many classic games that have served as inspiration for this effort from both a visual and gameplay standpoint. 

“At Sandfall Interactive we all have a love for JRPGs like Final Fantasy, the Tales series, Lost Odyssey, and Persona with its awesome UI, rhythm, and dynamic camera,” he says. “We all have a lot of nostalgia and love for these kinds of games, but also want to see something fresh done with the genre.”

“In terms of narrative, we also took inspiration from a French novel called La Horde du Contrevent, which is a fantasy novel about a group of explorers traveling the world,” says Broche. “In general, stories about venturing into the unknown despite incredible risks, like the anime/manga Attack on Titan, have always been very appealing to me.”

One thing that sets Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 apart from the games that inspired it is its implementation of real-time elements into turn-based combat. 

“We were inspired by action games like the Souls series, Devil May Cry, and NieR, and their rewarding gameplay was something we wanted to bring into a turn-based setting,” says Broche. “When you play those games, you have to learn the attacks, timings, and weaknesses for each enemy encounter, and we wanted to translate that challenge into a new genre.”

Getting into the rhythm of battle

Combat is one of the elements that Broche and his team are most proud of, so we discussed some of the unique mechanics they implemented and the inspiration behind them. 

“The battle system is what we call reactive turn-based,” he explains. “You can take time during battles to establish your strategies, but during the enemy’s turn, you will have to react in real-time to dodge, jump, or parry enemies to trigger a powerful counterattack. You will also be able to increase the effectiveness of your skills by mastering attack rhythms. Players will also be rewarded for their skill–it’s even possible to do a no-damage run if you master all the enemies’ patterns.” 

“I kept thinking about ways to make turn-based battles more engaging,” Broche continues.”The attack rhythm system is a mix of different inspirations–we wanted to make something fast paced to fit the vision we had for battle. As soon as I finished the first prototype of the defense system, I knew it was something special.”

Broche also dives into what players can expect when they jump into the game themselves. 

“I’d say dodging and parrying are the most common things players will need to get to grips with as they play,” says Broche. “The timing is pretty important, but the payoff is always really rewarding. Also, you can aim your ranged weapons at enemies too–hitting exposed weak points to do some extra damage, for example. Expedition 33 features some huge boss battles too that’ll really put players’ skills to the test. And, just like any great RPG, you can also build your character to take advantage of different things in battle, including these real-time mechanics. We’re all looking forward to players finding out more about how the game feels as we work towards the game’s launch next year.”

Finally, I asked if Broche had any messages for future players.

“We’re glad to see so many fans are excited for the world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33! As our first title, we’re thrilled with the reception we’ve seen so far and we can’t wait to show more in the lead up to launch next year.”

Last week, we asked you journey to the world of Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn and share epic moments using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:

secondcapture shares a detailed look at the back of Nor Vanek, including her tattoos, hair, and gun holster

m_nt_13 shares Nor Vanek leaping upward, leaving behind a trail of purple sparks

spec_arc shares Nor Vanek standing in a cave, ax drawn

GioWayne86 shares an image looking up at Nor Vanek in a red outfit, ax drawn and in focus

Horizon_VP shares Nor Vanek standing in a stone archway that frames a fortress in the distance

VivaceVivianV shares Enki the fox standing to the right of a glowing red obelisk

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?

THEME: Games within Games
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on July 31, 2024

Next week, we turn the spotlight on games within a video game. From sports to cards, or challenges to races, share your favorite characters taking part in an in-game game using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

With each of the Freegunners in Concord, our team has focused on taking a holistic approach to development by working across all disciplines–from gameplay design to narrative to art and beyond–to ensure that they’re not just fun and engaging to play, but that they feel like fully formed characters. From their core gameplay to the way they move and the performances of our cast, every detail is meant to feel like extensions of their personalities, backstories, and journey through the Concord galaxy.

This past weekend during the Open Beta and with the Early Access Beta earlier this month, you were able to experience a small slice of the game and each of our characters for the first time.

As we look ahead to launch in August, we’re excited to further unpack our launch roster of 16 playable Freegunners, including a limited animated series called Concord: Freegunner Adventures. The first episode drops today with Concord Freegunner Adventures: Crew First, which features Teo, Jabali, and It-Z taking a high-stakes job and going up against a rival crew: 

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In the days and weeks ahead, we’ll also be launching new gameplay trailers for each Freegunner in the launch roster, giving you a deeper look at their abilities and gear. Each episode of Concord Freegunner Adventures and gameplay trailer will launch on the official PlayStation YouTube channel.

For all the latest on Concord, be sure to follow us on Twitter/X, Instagram, and TikTok, as well as by joining the community in the Official Concord Discord.

Evo 2024 is down in the books, and what an event it was. When the eyes of the entire fighting game community are in one place, it’s also the ideal location to showcase new information about updates: gameplay balances and additions, character DLC, and much more — and the announcements at Evo this year packed one heckuva punch. 

Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising elevates its game even higher

GBVSR had a very strong showing at Evo this year, but it looks like it’s only the beginning of this game’s run as a community favorite. The beautiful yet terrifying Versusia was unveiled near the start of Evo, and she was playable at the CyGames booth. Versusia exudes an aura of raw power, with attacks that look and feel downright cataclysmic. She will be released on August 20, and it will be interesting to see how she affects the game’s dynamic. She’ll be accompanied by various gameplay adjustments, a new Grand Master rank, and additions to the game’s single-player story mode. 

Also announced but not playable was Vikila, whose bubbly personality and smaller stature stand in stark contrast to Versusia’s chaos. She’ll be available in October of this year, with a gameplay reveal almost certainly coming before her debut. Vikila and Versusia round out the Season 1 DLC characters, but a season 2 teaser — along with a brief glimpse of beloved character Sandalphon — was enough to get the Evo arena jumping with excitement over what’s to come.

Guilty Gear Strive brings us something old, something new, and something very different

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Guilty Gear Strive continues to thrive as one of the most beloved fighting games out there, and this year’s Evo grand finals were a perfect showcase of why this game brings so much passion from its players. Those fans have plenty to look forward to in the near future, as developer and publisher Arc System Works announced their full slate of upcoming DLC characters for Guilty Gear Strive’s fourth season.

Returning to the arena will be longtime series staples Dizzy and Venom, with new looks and, in Queen Dizzy’s case, a proper royal title. Details are sparse on the brand-new addition, Unika, but she’s a character that will prominently feature in the upcoming Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers anime.

Perhaps the most surprising announcement, however, was that of Guilty Gear’s first guest character from a completely different franchise. Lucy from Cyberpunk Edgerunners will step into the arena next summer, and it’s going to be interesting to see how she fits in among Guilty Gear’s famously eclectic cast. 

Also coming to GG Strive: a 3-on-3 battle mode. It’s still under development, but you’ll be able to try out the open beta of the mode today, July 25. New stages and character colors will also be added into the mix, so fans have plenty to look forward to over the next year.

Hunter X Hunter Nen Impact packs a punch

The upcoming anime-based title from Marvel vs Capcom 3 developers Eighting and publisher Arc System Works was playable and received quite a warm reception. While the inputs for special attacks are simplified compared to other team-based fighters, the feel of the gameplay is still as frantic and strategic as ever, and the over-the-top personalities and techniques of the beloved Hunter X Hunter cast shine through beautifully. Merurem, the fierce insectoid warrior, was both announced and playable at Arc System Works’ booth. Who else will be revealed before Hunter X Hunter Nen Impact’s debut this winter? Only time will tell.

SNK showcases Fatal Fury: City of Wolves and continues King of Fighters XV support

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SNK’s flagship franchise fighter King of Fighters XV, had another excellent year at Evo with a strong cross-national turnout, and they’re still working to keep the game fresh and fun. Two beloved characters were announced to be returning to the arena in December: the beautiful and deadly Vice and Mature.

Fatal Fury: City of Wolves had a huge showcase at the event. A booth offering demos of the game proved to be very popular throughout the weekend, and an exhibition featuring top players from the community showcased just how exciting and explosive the game could be, even at this early stage in development. A new but familiar character for FFCOW was also revealed at the event: Kevin Rian and his young buddy Marky make their return to the ongoing Fatal Fury storyline in their hunt for justice.

Finally, SNK had one more surprise: A re-release of the famous Capcom crossover fighter SvC Chaos is now available on PS4 and PS5 with rollback netcode.

Street Fighter 6 gives us a taste of Terry

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Speaking of crossovers, Capcom gave fans a sneak peek of famous SNK and Fatal Fury fighter Terry Bogard’s look and gameplay in Street Fighter 6 right before Top 6. Terry’s coming from the streets of his native South Town to tackle the fiercest combatants in Metro City, and if this trailer is any indication, things are going to get quite rowdy indeed!

Tekken 8 reveals Heihachi Mishima… is alive.

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By the time you read this, you might already be playing as Lidia in Tekken 8, who featured prominently at Bandai Namco’s Tekken stations on the Evo show floor. Lidia’s announcement at Evo Japan was met with a lot of fanfare, but things are about to get even wilder in the world of Tekken.

You didn’t think Tekken 8 would actually kill off its eternal patriarch, did you? In a stunning trailer, the Tekken Project team revealed the next DLC fighter: Heihachi Mishima, a man so powerful and unkillable that he has once again re-emerged to wreak havoc on all of his accursed bloodline. 

Supporting Heihachi’s re-emergence from the fires of hell will be a new, free single-player story DLC that adds the DLC fighters into the ongoing saga — however, this DLC will be free for all players, so there’s no need to buy the DLC to enjoy it. Both Heihachi and the new story content are tentatively scheduled to be released this fall. Also announced were the dates and location of the 2024 Tekken World Tour finals, which will have its culminating event in Shibuya, Japan. 

Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes delivers a creepy new combatant

Uzuki, the be-hatted and be-spectacled young lass, is the first DLC character from UNI2’s season pass. She will be available today, July 25 for all players. Uzuki was playable at publisher Arc System Works’ booth, where I got to try her out. She’s brimming with personality: besides having a host of macabre normal attacks packed with range and strength, she’s also got a bunch of tricks up her sleeve for special moves: a random item toss, a coffin full of chaos, and oh-so-many skeletons. Expect further information on the next two DLC characters, Ogre and Izumi, later this year.

With more Evo events planned globally in the coming years, the hype won’t be stopping, and you can expect plenty more announcements and surprises to accompany the competition.

How do you make a second act spectacular? Turn the volume up even higher.

This summer, World of Tanks Modern Armor gets loud as Motörhead and Rob Zombie take the stage for Metal Fest, the central event of our new Heavy Metal season!

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Just like all the best music festivals, Metal Fest has become an annual event. Anyone who missed our 2023 headliners (Sabaton, Megadeth, and Iron Maiden) is in luck; for a limited time, we’ll be bringing back last year’s content in all of its guitar-shredding glory.

But you don’t want to just relive last year’s epic moments. You want to hear about the new stuff. So let’s talk about what it took to make this year’s event happen with the legendary Motörhead and Rob Zombie!

Motörhead

Motörhead blasts its way into battle with new content that includes:

• The Thunder Chief Object 452K tank
• The “Bomber” Skin for the FV107 Scimitar
• 2D Commanders representing band members Lemmy Kilmister, Phil Campbell, and Mikkey Dee
• 3D Commanders modeled after Lemmy and the band’s mascot, Warpig

Motörhead is one of the true vanguards of heavy metal. Their lifestyle and legend remains fiercely popular, and founding father Lemmy (who passed away in 2015) continues to be revered in the community.

But as well as leading Motörhead to deafening global popularity, Lemmy was also an avid gamer, and the band was actively involved with concepts and ideas for Tanks’ new content. Talking about the Lemmy 3D Commander, the band states, “Modern technology has enabled us to have Lemmy fully integrated into the game, which felt appropriate given that this is exactly the sort of game he played and avidly enjoyed.” 

It’s a legacy that the Motörhead superfans in Tanks’ design and development crews took seriously. “We did a ton of visual research to make sure we were making the most authentic version of Lemmy seen in any video game ever, and I think we achieved that,” says Andy Dorizas, Tanks’ art director. “I wanted to make sure we honored him as the amazing guy he was.” 

This dedication is reflected not only in the Commanders but in the Motörhead tank and skin (“the back of the tanks, the amps—you will know if you know,” says Dorizas) as well as the Warpig 3D Commander. According to Dorizas, “We even have Warpig carrying the bomb from the Bomber album cover into the game when you choose him in the UI.”

In fact, this marks the first time that fans will get to hear Warpig’s voice, a responsibility that fell to another Motörhead fan: Brendan Blewett, Tanks’ audio director.

“Motörhead provided clear goals and direction for Warpig in that they wanted a character that was a cross between a wild, free-wheeling-no-rules biker and an English bulldog,” Blewett explains. “I had to think about how to achieve this, and I decided that interpolating recordings, in combination with modulating a human voice recording against a different recording of dog vocalizations, was going to be my method.”

So, who was chosen to assist with this iconic role? “My sister-in-law has a puggle named Ollie, and he is a legendary vocalizer when it comes to snorting and breathing and grunting and whatnot, so the solution presented itself,” says Blewett. “The whole of every line is a human voice being directly modulated by dog vocalizations.”

Sometimes you go to great lengths to make rock and roll happen.

Rob Zombie

Rob Zombie thunders onto the battlefield with new content that includes:

• The Dragula T-55AGM tank
• The “Superbeast” Skin for the M53/55
• 2D and 3D Commanders modeled after the man himself

Zombie is an unmatched creative force who, with the 1998 release of Hellbilly Deluxe, solidified his status as a ruler in the realm of shock rock. The Dragula T-55AGM acknowledges this with a design that pays tribute to the album’s lead single.

But Zombie’s career extends far beyond that, which meant that his 3D Commander in particular had to reflect all his accomplishments and interests.

“We made two designs of his 3D commander,” says Dorizas. “Rob chose the one that was more authentic to Rob and not tied to any one album theme … a bad-ass tanker with evil style and some serious menace.”

No matter which act is your favorite, this year’s Metal Fest aims to thrill. Motörhead and Rob Zombie were among players’ top five most requested acts, and we’re honored to bring them you.

So crank it up. We’ll see you on the battlefield for Metal Fest starting July 30 on PS5 and PS4!