About a month ago, Sony announced that the servers for several of its games, including Warhawk, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, and Twisted Metal would be going offline on October 25. For the likes of PS All-Stars and Twisted Metal, that’s a blow, but their campaigns can still be played offline. For something like Warhawk, however, which is entirely an online experience, that renders the entire game unplayable.

However, they now seem to have silently pushed back the date for the shutdown of these servers, as well as for Sound Shapes, which was also due to get its servers shut down, by 90 days. Servers for all four of these games will now be shut down on January 31, 2019.

Sony has sent out an email that notifies players of the same (via Reddit). Meanwhile, the PS Store pages for Twisted Metal, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Warhawk, and Sound Shapes have also been updated to reflect this change, and all mention that their multiplayer and online features will become unavailable on January 31, 2019.

Following that date, Sound Shapes, PS All-Stars, and Twisted Metal’s single player components, local co-op, and splitscreen will still be playable, but their online functionality will become unavailable. Warhawk will be unplayable entirely, unless your PS3 is set to LAN mode for local network play, of course.

SuperBot Entertainment has announced that two new stages will be making their way to PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale via DLC. The stages will be mashups of Heavenly Sword and WipEout. They’re pictured above, have a look.

These stages will be part of the same DLC, that offers two new characters as well: Kat from Gravity Rush and Emmett Graves from Starhawk.

The DLC releases early next year and will be free for the first three weeks after its launch, after which you will have to start paying, unfortunately.

In our review of the PS3 version of PS All-Stars Battle Royale, we gave it a 5.5/10 and said that while it “tries to be a lot of things at once”, it ultimately “ends up being just mediocre.”

We were much less critical of the PS Vita version, though. In our review of the Vita version, we said Battle Royale “a much better experience on the Vita than it is on the PS3” and gave it a score of 6.5/10.

A patch for Battle Royale is also inbound. Read the details here.

PlayStaion All-Stars Battle Royale is getting its first patch, about a week after its release, and the patch adds several items and other minor upgrades and fixes to the game.

Here’re the full patch notes:

• A new item, Medusa’s Gaze, has been added to the game
• View Invites has been added to the Party Bar Menu
• Voice chat icon added to loading screens
• AI logic enhancements
• Network performance improvements
  • Issue where players were stuck with a different character than the one picked has been addressed
  • Issue with matchmaking in regards to player skill has been addressed
  • Overall improvements to network connectivity
• Sackboy changes
  • Level 1 Super – Increase cost from 100 to 150 AP
  • Level 2 Super – Increase cost from 325 to 400 AP
  • Level 3 Super – Increase cost from 600 to 750 AP
  • Jam Session (Neutral Triangle) – Reduced AP generation from 25 down to 10 AP
  • Cakeinator (Neutral Circle) – Reduced AP generation from 25 down to 20 AP

We reviewed both versions of Battle Royale, and we thought it was significantly better on the PS Vita as compared to the PS3 version. Read the reviews through the links.

[SuperBot’s Tumblr Blog]

We all know just how much PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was compared with Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. series before its release. And seriously, who can blame people for making the comparisons? Super Smash was clearly the inspiration- or competition- in Sony’s mind when they actually started working on the game. But while Nintendo’s Smash Bros. games are incredibly fun and absolute masterpieces, Battle Royale fails to impress in any way possible and comes across as bland and boring.

However, let’s get one thing out of the way first- PS All-Stars Battle Royale is actually very different from Smash Bros. Yes, Battle Royale brings together Sony mascots and pits them against each other in a wacky, charming kind of way (or at least attempts to) just as Smash Bros. does with Nintendo, but as a fighter, at its core, in the gameplay aspect, Battle Royale is actually more of a true, tactical fighter.

There’s a slew of options in Battle Royale to choose from. You can attack other characters using three of the face buttons, and change what the attacks result in by adding direction to them with the left analog stick. Add in elements like rolling, blocking, jumping, supers, combos, throws and so much more, and Battle Royale actually gets a bit too complex.

Now, don’t take this as some sign of me being a novice when it comes to fighters. I’m the kind of guy who loves playing games like Super Street Fighter and Marvel vs Capcom 3 for hours at length, but the thing is, being complex just doesn’t suit Battle Royale, and somehow, it doesn’t pull it off very well. The tutorials are all really good, but the game does have a steep learning curve. If this were just any other fighter, I’d have no problem with that. Hell, I’d expect it to have a steep learning curve.

But Battle Royale is, on the outside, a charming, accessible, fun, pick up and play fighter, boasting of the brand of fighting that would appeal to all crowds at the same time. The deep complexity of the hardcore fighting genre does not belong here.

What does belong is a great character roster, no matter what kind of fighter the game is. Unfortunately, Battle Royale’s roster is a hit and miss. While it includes some very lovable Sony characters like Nathan Drake and Kratos and Sackboy and even Fat Princess, the roster is small at just around twenty characters, and notable Sony icons like Nathan Halo or Sev are missing. And who’s to say you can only have the main Sony guys? I’d love to play as Sully or Ares or Captain Qwark. There are a few third party entries here, since, let’s face it, Sony’s character lineup does not (yet) have the depth that Nintendo’s does, and you’ll be seeing people like Raiden from Metal Gear Solid and Big Daddy from BioShock on the maps often.

And again, the problem arises- none of Sony’s characters are as iconic or as recognizable as, say, Mario or Pikachu. None of them have the rich history to themselves as Link does, and none of them has yet achieved the mysterious heights of Samus. It’s unfair, really, to criticize Battle Royale for something like this, but given its competition, it’s a necessity.

But make no mistake- once you see Kratos and Drake and Ratchet and Dante battling it out in PaRappa the Rapper’s dojo house, you’ll forget how not-so-iconic these characters are, because let’s face it- who doesn’t want to see Dante’a ass getting handed to him by Kratos, or Ratchet burying his weapons in Drake’s backside? Once you crank up the difficulty and actually get the hang of the controls and how to chain together some sweet combos, you actually start having fun.

When that starts getting repetitive- and it does, after a while- you can always jump online and beat the hell out of friends in local multiplayer or strangers around the world. Multiplayer, of course, is a hell lot of fun, and just like any other fighter, it’s in the multiplayer that Battle Royale’s strengths truly lie.

And the maps that we fight on are good enough to support all that crazy, chaotic fun- even enhance it. Maps, as you may have expected, are dynamic. So while in the middle of  fight, you’re probably worrying about your foes’ attacks and Level 1, 2 or 3 supers, you might also have to worry about the creepy huge girl in the background shooting huge, nuke sized missiles at the entire map to take out entire sections, or worry about disappearing and animating platforms. It’s really, really fun to see how the maps change and how you have to interact them to maybe even use them to your benefit. And getting to see maps from old games we love (or not so old games) and ones that haven’t even come out yet (BioShock Infinite’s Columbia) is always a treat.

It’s a shame, then, that the visuals can’t help these maps transcend to an all new level. The visuals, while perfectly serviceable, are rough and messy, and character models don’t look all that good. The soundtrack, too, is largely mediocre, with few memorable Sony themes recurring here.

So what’s it like on the PS Vita?

Surprisingly, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is a much better experience on the Vita than it is on the PS3. For one, just because the OLED screen of the handheld is so damned beautiful, the visuals just pop out and look that much crispier and prettier. The entire game is better suited to a handheld as a whole- the relatively small roster of characters of Battle Royale doesn’t seem quite so small when you put it into perspective in the handheld market. Plus the fact that if you already have the PS3 version of the game, you can get the Vita version for free makes the deal that much sweeter. Because cross play between the Vita and the PS3 is a joy, whether you play it solo or with a friend.

In the end, nothing really works out well enough for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale to achieve the heights it aspires to. Cross platform play between the Vita and the PS3 are neat and interesting mechanics, but none of what All-Stars does ever exceeds a level of mediocrity, and it always feels flat and… soulless. So while in technical terms, there’s not much wrong with Battle Royale, in the end, as a game, it fails to impress you.

This game was reviewed on the PS Vita.

However, let’s get one thing out of the way first- PS All-Stars Battle Royale is actually very different from Smash Bros. Yes, Battle Royale brings together Sony mascots and pits them against each other in a wacky, charming kind of way (or at least attempts to) just as Smash Bros. does with Nintendo, but as a fighter, at its core, in the gameplay aspect, Battle Royale is actually more of a true, tactical fighter.

There’s a slew of options in Battle Royale to choose from. You can attack other characters using three of the face buttons, and change what the attacks result in by adding direction to them with the left analog stick. Add in elements like rolling, blocking, jumping, supers, combos, throws and so much more, and Battle Royale actually gets a bit too complex.

Now, don’t take this as some sign of me being a novice when it comes to fighters. I’m the kind of guy who loves playing games like Super Street Fighter and Marvel vs Capcom 3 for hours at length, but the thing is, being complex just doesn’t suit Battle Royale, and somehow, it doesn’t pull it off very well. The tutorials are all really good, but the game does have a steep learning curve. If this were just any other fighter, I’d have no problem with that. Hell, I’d expect it to have a steep learning curve.

But Battle Royale is, on the outside, a charming, accessible, fun, pick up and play fighter, boasting of the brand of fighting that would appeal to all crowds at the same time. The deep complexity of the hardcore fighting genre does not belong here.

What does belong is a great character roster, no matter what kind of fighter the game is. Unfortunately, Battle Royale’s roster is a hit and miss. While it includes some very lovable Sony characters like Nathan Drake and Kratos and Sackboy and even Fat Princess, the roster is small at just around twenty characters, and notable Sony icons like Nathan Halo or Sev are missing. And who’s to say you can only have the main Sony guys? I’d love to play as Sully or Ares or Captain Qwark. There are a few third party entries here, since, let’s face it, Sony’s character lineup does not (yet) have the depth that Nintendo’s does, and you’ll be seeing people like Raiden from Metal Gear Solid and Big Daddy from BioShock on the maps often.

And again, the problem arises- none of Sony’s characters are as iconic or as recognizable as, say, Mario or Pikachu. None of them have the rich history to themselves as Link does, and none of them has yet achieved the mysterious heights of Samus. It’s unfair, really, to criticize Battle Royale for something like this, but given its competition, it’s a necessity.

But make no mistake- once you see Kratos and Drake and Ratchet and Dante battling it out in PaRappa the Rapper’s dojo house, you’ll forget how not-so-iconic these characters are, because let’s face it- who doesn’t want to see Dante’a ass getting handed to him by Kratos, or Ratchet burying his weapons in Drake’s backside? Once you crank up the difficulty and actually get the hang of the controls and how to chain together some sweet combos, you actually start having fun.

When that starts getting repetitive- and it does, after a while- you can always jump online and beat the hell out of friends in local multiplayer or strangers around the world. Multiplayer, of course, is a hell lot of fun, and just like any other fighter, it’s in the multiplayer that Battle Royale’s strengths truly lie.

And the maps that we fight on are good enough to support all that crazy, chaotic fun- even enhance it. Maps, as you may have expected, are dynamic. So while in the middle of  fight, you’re probably worrying about your foes’ attacks and Level 1, 2 or 3 supers, you might also have to worry about the creepy huge girl in the background shooting huge, nuke sized missiles at the entire map to take out entire sections, or worry about disappearing and animating platforms. It’s really, really fun to see how the maps change and how you have to interact them to maybe even use them to your benefit. And getting to see maps from old games we love (or not so old games) and ones that haven’t even come out yet (BioShock Infinite’s Columbia) is always a treat.

It’s a shame, then, that the visuals can’t help these maps transcend to an all new level. The visuals, while perfectly serviceable, are rough and messy, and character models don’t look all that good. The soundtrack, too, is largely mediocre, with few memorable Sony themes recurring here.

In the end, nothing really works out well enough for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale to achieve the heights it aspires to. Cross platform play between the Vita and the PS3 are neat and interesting mechanics, but none of what All-Stars does ever exceeds a level of mediocrity, and it always feels flat and… soulless. So while in technical terms, there’s not much wrong with Battle Royale, in the end, as a game, it fails to impress you.

This game was reviewed on the PS3.

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale is something that has undergone a lot of scrutiny when it was revealed. But one new thing that was revealed was completely bewildering. Apparently it was a 4vs4 player capture the flag type game and not the one that we currently have.

 “Eventually [SCEA] decided on a PlayStation All-Stars type game – a broad concept of let’s take all of these great PlayStation characters and PlayStation universes and bring them together into a single game. Then it became a question of what kind of game do we want to bring these characters in,” said Omar Kendall, lead game designer at SuperBot Entertainment to Siliconera.

“There were all sorts of little gameplay demos and prototypes. When I talk about the last version of the game before we settled on the current incarnation was this 4v4 capture the flag kind of game.

“It was a class based game where you had fast runners who were good at capturing the flag and taking the flag back to base. You had defensive dudes. We were taking PlayStation characters and using them like archetypes.

“How do we get four dudes looking all looking at the same thing on the screen in the same room and a brawler style game is what was finally landed on,” he said. “Once that was locked in in terms of hiring key personnel like myself, Paul Edwards, our lead combat designer, all of those people started coming in to specifically work on the four player brawler.”

We don’t have any concept video of the game in its concept stages, but this is an awesome revelation, isn’t it? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

The Trophies list for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale has been revealed. Some of them are given below. Have a look:

All-Star Legend – You’ve Only Done Everything
You have successfully earned all other trophies in the game. Congratulations!

Trial Combatant
Complete a Combat Trial

The Legend
Complete Arcade Mode on Legend

Fundamentals
Complete the Basic Tutorial

Character Mastery
Complete a Combo Tutorial

Showing Off
Show off your Minion during a game

Triple Kill!
Earn a Triple Kill in a match-made online game

Team Sweeper
Earn a Double Kill in a 2v2 match-made online game

We have Overtime! – Working Weekends?
Enter Overtime!

3x OVERTIME!!
Enter 3x AP Overtime!

Champion
Win a Versus Match against a team of three AI opponents

Combo King
Land a 50+ AP Combo in Practice Mode

Combo Virtuoso
Land a 70+ AP Combo in Practice Mode

Ultimate Power
Perform a Level 3 Super Attack

Two for One
Earn a Double Kill with a Level 1 Super Attack

Three for One
Earn a Triple Kill with a Level 1 Super Attack

Check out the entire Trophies list here.

You can’t shake off that feeling of this being a huge clone, you really can’t. So with that out of the way, I can talk about the meat of the game. The core game design is surprisingly quite solid and indicates high production values, and people who’ve played Super Smash Bros. will instantly recognize the basic HUD and other things, because it is all so familiar!

There is a massive change in how the gameplay system works compared to Nintendo’s version, and that change is how you dispatch your foes. There is no health bar in PSABR, instead you have to use finishers to kill someone. There are three tiers each each more powerful than the other and with a lot more visual flair. You may recognize most of these moves if you’ve played the respective games for those characters, but such a change for veteran Smash players will result in a slight learning curve. New players, however will get the hang of the gameplay mechanics quite easier.

As the name suggests, the game contains iconic Playstation characters accumulated by Sony over the years, and while most of them are of an unknown variety, SuperBot keeps adding more third-party characters to the game bolstering the line-up and making the list familiar for a lot of people. The charm that Nintendo characters bring to the table is obviously missing here for some reason, but Playstation fans don’t need to be worried about all this.

The stages are also mix and matched from various levels taken from the games of these characters. Remember the amazing boss fight where Kratos pummeled Hades in God of War 3? That stage is now here in the game where Hades’ towering presence provides a fresh breath of air as the 2D Playstation characters like Radec, Kratos, Fat Princess and the likes pummel each other into oblivion.

The action is very fast paced here sometimes completely confusing the hell out of you due to the cartoony cell shaded graphics which does not pop out of the screen as much as I would have liked. The colours are dull as well, making everything look similar. Of course, I need to spend a lot of time with the game and master it so that these issues won’t be much worrisome but in a way this needs to be rectified by SuperBot.

The entire game is an exercise in beating the shit out of whoever you see and building up your AP bar by collecting the AP orbs. That’s all there is to it. There is strategy involved and that strategy is mostly not getting hit. The netcode is quite good and this is the one thing that impresses me a lot about the game as the original Super Smash Bros. was terrible with lag everywhere.

This game is still in development and will be released later this year, so hopefully they will improve some of the things I mentioned here.

It looks like we have the full stages for PS All-Stars Battle Royale courtesy of a Neogaf member Miladesn. You can check them out below.

Earlier there was a massive leak on Reddit showing plenty of characters and stages from the game. It wasn’t comprehensive, but now we do know what stages exist in the game. There’s also a BioShock Infinite stage, but the disappointing thing is there may not be a Final Fantasy stage or a Final Fantasy character like Cloud or Lighting.

The game features a number of cool game modes for both single and multiplayer, with a focus on online play which features a robust tournament mode. Players will be able to compete against each other as well as play cooperatively.

Check out the images. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Click to Enlarge

Sony has revealed the release date for PS All-Stars Battle Royale and it comes out on different dates for various regions: October 23 and 24 in the US and Europe respectively.

They will also reveal the pre-order bonuses for it at EVO 2012 fighting game tournament, where SCEA will have an exhibition. Meanwhile, pre-ordering will get you a set of costumes for all characters.

Sounds good? Seth Killian former Capcom community manager and EVO founder, has joined Sony and will be working on PS All-Stars Battle Royale, so you can be rest assured that there’s a lot of talent working on the game right now.

The game is being developed at Superbot Entertainment which is a new studio started by Sony to create exclusive games for them. Stay tuned for more news and information at GB.