We’re talking a lot about the next generation of consoles right now, since they’re getting close (almost certainly, the PS5 and next Xbox will both release next year). While it’s exciting, those on a budget have another reason to be excited, as that means a lot of the big games from this great generation are going on a permanent discount. Today, Sony announced five new games that are coming to their PlayStation Hits line.

The line already has quite a line up, from the likes of Persona 5 and Bloodborne to Uncharted 4, The Last of Us, and many more. Sony have now announced that they are adding Horizon: Zero Dawn Complete Edition, Resident Evil 7, Nioh, Friday the 13th, and God of War 3 Remastered as well. Resident Evil and Nioh also have complete editions with DLC content, but it seems as if only the base editions are part of the Hits line.

You can check out an entire chart of the line up of games you can pick up below. If you’re on a budget, or you just happened to miss out on some of these, it’s a fantastic time, and price, to jump in. The five games announced today will go on the Hits list starting June 28th.

According to Gamasutra’s job listings, Santa Monica is looking for designers with experience working on “open world” games. Also, vehicular combat along with first and third-person shooters.

However, the listing for Senior Combat Designers seeks those who can help the team out with “character and boss designs from concept to implementation.” Experience developing or designing vehicle combat is considered “a plus”.

It sounds like its pretty much official that Sony Santa Monica next-gen project is already in the making. Santa Monica also teased previously on twitter that they something new might be happening at E3.

Yesterday, Sony Santa Monica, announced a new title in cooperation with London studio Honeyslug called Hohokum.

The company’s last major title was God of War: Ascension which was a prequel to the critically acclaimed God of War franchise. You can take a look at God of War: Ascension review right here.

Keep your eyes peeled for Sony’s E3 2013 Press Conference, megatons will be happening in almost less than a month. Check back on GamingBolt for all the reveals soon.

Hohokum is a brand new title that was being worked on as a collaborative project between, Santa Monica, Sony, London studio Honeyslug and visual artist Richard Hogg.

Hohokum started development since 2011. The game became a reality because the developers wanted to create a game where “the usual pressures of videogames – constantly being told to do things, fearing failure and being challenged to earn progress – were all absent.”

In Hohokum players will be traversing as a long “flying snake-like character”. According to the official PlayStation Blog, Hogg stated that the gameplay will feel “kinetic and kind of mesmerising.” Sony also stated in the blog that they will be revealing more information at this year’s E3 in June.

Have a peek at these Hohokum screenshots below:

What do you think of Hohokum? Let us know in the comments below. Check back on GamingBolt for more news and future Sony titles.

“After the core hardware, the CPU and GPU, had been decided the project shifted to designing and discussing what should be the user experience of people who be playing games on PS4,” Yoshida told Edge.

“So we formed the cross-functional groups of people from SCEI hardware and Worldwide Studios and Sony network services teams to meet every month, almost. And Mark Cerny was heavily involved and leading some discussions. And the idea of sharing and seamless integration with social networks, that was heavily discussed.”

“I think it was Nathan Gary in Santa Monica studios who suggested it: how about adding a dedicated button on the controller so that everybody can just press that button to share? He was helping out the external development, heavily involved in helping the development of Journey and Unfinished Swan at Santa Monica Studios.”

“So Nathan put together a Powerpoint and pitched in this Share button idea,” Yoshida added. “And we all went, that’s a brilliant idea! So it was a pretty quick decision after he suggested it and I’m sure he’s pretty proud of his contribution. That was after many months of discussion of how people should be using the PS4 system and sharing was one of the central experiences we wanted to include in the system’s development.”

How do you feel about the Share Button, and will it change the way you look at play games and make your social experience more enjoyable? Let us know in the comments down below and stay tuned on GamingBolt for more PlayStation 4 news.

President of SCE Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida says that western developers under Sony, like Sony Santa Monica and some others are now working with Japan’s Team Ico to fully develop (finally) their title, The Last Guardian. Yoshida also claimed that even though Fumito Ueda has left Team Ico, he is still working on the project, saying that “he’s on top of the game and the team is making progress”.

“He never left the team,” he said on Ueda while talking to Wired. “He’s on top of the game and the team is making progress. But the progress is slow and sometimes the team has to go back and review things.

“There’s a vision that we want to realise but it’s very, very tough and [the] technical issue that the team is tackling and some plans have to be made

to evaluate and go through the process.

“At one point the progress was great, so we talked about the timing of the launch in the past. But now it’s making progress, but still not to the level – it’s playable, but not to the point that we can talk about the timing of launch.”

Yoshida says that among the teams helping with the game’s development is the creator of Sony Santa Monica.

“Well, you know, it’s not just Santa Monica,” Yoshida said. “We have great tech people in Worldwide Studios. We have a central tech group in the U.S. and the U.K. so we are giving them whatever help they need. Technically, we have the best engineers in the U.S. and Europe, so these teams are helping them, giving advice.”

According to the latest issue of PSM3, God of War 4 will feature online co-op. This was uncovered by Silliegamer, who always post rumours like these from such magazines.

The rumour says, “Why is it hot? It’s bringing double Kratos to the series. GOW4 was confirmed to PSM3 mid-2011 by a reliable source, and rumours point to a multiplayer twist. Mad idea? Online co-op with a (possibly) dead Kratos and (very) dead brother Deimos teaming up to escape the afterlife.”

Santa Monica, the studio behind God of War games on consoles, haven’t created a main game this gen except God of War 3, so this rumour could be true.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Harvard Bonin – Senior Producer, Santa Monica Studio has announced on the PS Blog that Starhawk beta ends on January 3rd. I’ve been unfortunate to not get a chance to play the Beta yet, but the open beta should change things.

More details about that will be revealed soon.

In the next few weeks we’ll be announcing the dates for this important step. Many more players will be allowed access, including the UNCHARTED 3 owners who received a Public Beta voucher when they purchased the game!

Look for more information and specifics on the PlayStation.Blog very soon.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Sony Santa Monica, developers of the three main installments of the God of War franchise and co-developers of the two handheld spin-offs, is currently working on a new God of War game, and is hiring developers to work on it, according to a recent job listing.

The studio is looking for a Senior Staff Concept Artist to work on a project called simply “God of War.” This may be a working title, but then again, it might be a reboot as well, something that many fans have been asking for for some time now.

Job duties of the new dev will include “Conceptual Development/ Illustration” and will start work on the project immediately after being hired. The position also requires “previous or next-gen video game platform experience  (e.g. PS2, PS3, X-box, X-box 360 etc.)”, which indicates that this new God of War game will either be on the PS3, or a next generation PlayStation, apart from Vita.

We recently listed out ten things we would like to see in God of War 4. You can read the feature here.

[Source]

According to a job listing in Gamasutra, Santa Monica is working on a new IP and requires a senior level designer.

The listing says:

The Sony Santa Monica Studio is hiring for an unannounced new IP!

We are an open and creative environment that strives to make the best games in the industry. Join us as we embark on our next project!

Overall, the position of Sr. Level Designer is expected to partner with the organization to:

Responsibilities:

• Design  and implement gameplay, taking direction from Level Lead and Game Director as needed on any the following: level design from concept to implementation to shippable completion, entity scripting and functionality, AI layout and all things gameplay-related.  As needed, act as liaison between Lead and Junior Designers, in addition to driving or participating in any needed communication with other disciplines.
• Work within the set standard for all level asset creation within the production path as it relates to design, art and otherwise.  Must comprehend a working knowledge of the game production pipeline in order to communicate effectively with other team members.  Working knowledge of design systems in order to build levels in 3D space, place enemies, fully understand the relationship between gameplay elements within the level and the overall game and all the ways the player can respond to each gameplay element.
• Actively participate in and/or lead required production related meetings as needed.   Attend and/or lead design-specific discussions concerning design reviews and design issues.  Collaborate with Design Director, Leads and Design Manager during the product development cycle about creative and/or production related topics.
• Contribute, as needed, in all educational meetings for in-house staff on new technical issues and tools dealing with all design aspects – level building, entities, cameras, etc.
• Communicate thoroughly to insure good working relationships with the other Designers, Design Director, Game Director, Design Manager, Art Director, Lead Artist, Lead Programmer, Lead Animator, etc.  Drive and follow the progress of owned areas of the game.

With God of War III, though, while the main trilogy may have ended, the series is not yet over. Even if Sony and Santa Monica had said so themselves, and promised that they will return to God of War sooner or later, GoWIII’s semi cliff-hanger ending would have been enough to set that fact in stone.

So that brings us to the question that will drive this article forward: what do we want to see in God of War 4? What has the God of War series not done right till now, that can be improved with future installments? Compiled below are ten things we want God of War 4 to do and incorporate. Enjoy the list, and as always, don’t forget to give us your feedback via your comments below!

Weapon variety

About the only useful weapon in the entire series.

The Blades of Chaos have now become a very iconic weapon, with five of the games have used the chained yo-yo like blades as Kratos’ primary weapon. But as much as we simply love to wreak havoc and cause destruction with the legendary Blades of Chaos/Athena/Exile, we also want to see God of War 4 to have a larger arsenal of weapons, and one that is actually useful. True, we do get several additional weapons and abilities in all God of War game, but you never really feel compelled to use them. The Blades themselves feel so powerful, you never feel the need to use another weapons. Now, I’d never want Santa Monica to remove the Blades from God of War, but it’d be really great if they introduced some weapons that felt as good to handle as the Blades.

No mindless story

While God of War II’s story is very good on the outside- perfect for a summer blockbuster game-, it falls apart under the slightest of scrutiny. Kratos travels back in time to stop Zeus from ever killing him, and succeeds, which means Kratos never died. And if he never died, he never went to the Sisters, which is not what the game says, because the story continues after he kills Zeus. It’s really nonsensical. Santa Monica should probably pay more attention to the story they are telling in God of War IV. Ghost of Sparta and God of War were perfect- follow their examples. A complex, character driven story that makes sense would be nice.

More balanced combat system

Combat in God of War relies heavily on one combo, that anyone who knows even squat about the franchise should be familiar with- Square, Square, Triangle. You can literally rampage through the entire game using just this combo in combat situation, which make up about 80 per cent of the game. When you’re not using this combo, you’re playing out context sensitive parts, finishing off enemies and bosses with QTEs. While God of War III did balance the combat a bit, with Ghost of Sparta improving on that further, with new abilities and combos that we actually felt like using (they were actually pretty fun), we would like to see a much more balances combat system in GoW4.

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