Though Sony’s announced $400 price point for PlayStation VR was deemed fair by many, including Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey, that’s only for the base headset. One will need to purchase a PlayStation Camera and PlayStation Move controller for the full experience, which further increases the price point.

It seems Sony has a solution for the same though, as an SCEA rep with PlayStation worldwide studios head Shuhei Yoshida stated to Tech Insider that, “There will be a bundle in the SCEA region [North America] with Move and a Camera.”

A price point wasn’t revealed though and when asked why the PS Camera (which is necessary) wasn’t included, Yoshida said “We didn’t put it in because many people already own it.” How many people? “A large enough number of people.”

Considering the 36 million or so PlayStation 4 owners, that may not be too far off-base. In the meantime, stay tuned for more information on PlayStation VR and the proposed bundle.

Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has been delayed again. Before you think that every month is Uncharted month with all these delays, don’t worry – the delay is for more manufacturing time and ensure a strong supply of discs.

SCEA president Shawn Layden said in the PlayStation Blog that, “In an effort to meet the considerable worldwide demand, and to ensure that all gamers worldwide have the opportunity to play the game on day one, we have chosen to postpone the launch of the game by two weeks to allow for extra manufacturing time.

“We know this news might be disappointing, and we are sorry to have to make you wait a little longer to play Naughty Dog’s latest. The good news is that the game is phenomenal — we are fully confident that it will be worth the wait and the team at Naughty Dog is eager as ever for you to experience Nathan Drake’s final adventure.”

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End will now be releasing on May 10th for PS4. Until the next delay, that is. Stay tuned for more details.

Despite strong indications on its Japanese product page that it was discontinued in the country, Sony’s PlayStation TV is actually still shipping in Asia. However, a spokesperson for the company told GameSpot that the micro-console his no longer shipping in the United States and Europe. Shipments were stopped by 2015 end.

“PlayStation TV shipments were terminated at the end of 2015 in SCEA and SCEE. Shipment is still continuing in SCEAsia (as of the end of February, 2016), and we have nothing to announce regarding the timing of termination.”

PlayStation TV releases in November 2013 for Japan and saw a lukewarm response. Even after coming to North America and Europe in late 2014, it didn’t really improve with its sales. Sony didn’t confirm that this was the reason for shipments being cancelled however.

What are your thoughts on PlayStation TV shipments being terminated in North America and Europe? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information.

Sony Computer Entertainment America recently shared sales for Gran Turismo 5 and 6 along with total franchise sales for the present litigation with VIRAG, the Italian flooring company. Documents pertaining to the case revealed that Gran Turismo 6, which released in December 2013, sold 2.37 million units till date on PS3.

It was also revealed that, “Sony America distributed the Gran Turismo 5 game globally, including throughout the United States and North America, and to date over 10.89 million copies have been sold.”

Total franchise sales total 72.6 million for the 17 years that Gran Turismo has been in existence, which is incredibly good when compared to racing contemporaries like Forza Motorsport (though that series is roughly 9.5 years old, it’s only sold more than 10 million copies thus far).

What are your thoughts on the success of Gran Turismo 6 and more importantly, are you looking forward to Gran Turismo 7 on the PS4? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned for more information in the coming months.

(Source)

Some even say that it saved the fighting game genre. It didn’t; saying that implies that other developers in the genre didn’t do anything while Capcom sat on their hands for the better part of a decade. Excellent fighting games were developed during that time: Soul Calibur, Guilty Gear, Dead or Alive, Capcom vs. SNK, Virtua Fighter… all of those games exist. Street Fighter IV didn’t save the genre. But it did revive it from near irrelevance and resurrected one of the most important franchises in the history of the medium in the process.

"The PS4 re-release marks what is likely the game’s last hurrah before Street Fighter V next year, and the end of an era for the fighting game genre. As a package, Ultra adds the most content to Street Fighter IV since Super Street Fighter IV in 2010, but the question remains: is the re-release of an update to a game from 2009 worth your time?

Ultra Street Fighter IV marks the third and final (come on, AE 2012 doesn’t count) major revision to the Street Fighter IV formula, the definitive stamp on one of the best fighting games ever made, that period at the end of a sentence seven years in the making. The PS4 re-release marks what is likely the game’s last hurrah before Street Fighter V next year, and the end of an era for the fighting game genre. As a package, Ultra adds the most content to Street Fighter IV since Super Street Fighter IV in 2010, but the question remains: is the re-release of an update to a game from 2009 worth your time? The long answer depends on how much you like Street Fighter, and fighting games in general, and whether or not you already own a copy of Ultra Street Fighter IV. The short answer, however, is yes.

Like previous updates to the game, the biggest addition to Ultra Street Fighter IV is the new characters. Ultra adds five new fighters to Street Fighter IV’s roster, boosting the number of playable characters up to an impressive forty-four, a number almost unheard of in one-on-one fighters. Four of these new characters – Hugo, Poison, Elena, and Rolento – previously appeared in Street Fighter X Tekken, while the fifth, Decapre, is making her first appearance in the series.

None of these characters are new in the truest sense of the term, which is a shame. Even Decapre, who is supposed to be a completely new character, is just an evil version of Cammy that shares many of the latter’s animations. This was no doubt a cost-cutting move on Capcom’s part, but the lack of “new” characters in Street Fighter IV’s last update is still disappointing, if somewhat expected given that Street Fighter IV is more than six years old and a majority of the original team has moved on to other projects.

"In a rather inspired move, Capcom has also provided players with the ability to select which edition of a character they would like to play, which makes for some very interesting matchups.

The new characters may not have that new car smell aesthetically, but each brings a unique bag of tricks to Ultra Street Fighter IV. Rolento, for instance, is a hit and run character that can control large areas of space at once, while Elena is an offensive kicking machine capable of big combos. Hugo, meanwhile, is a grappler with a ton of health (and a huge hitbox), and perpetual partner in crime Poison is more of a cross between Crimson Viper and a traditional Shoto. Decapre rounds things out with a dash and teleport that allows her to attack from multiple angles, keeping opponents on their toes.

Of course, there have been a number of balance changes to the other characters, as well. The changes are pretty extensive, but Capcom has been kind enough to outline them in a handy YouTube playlist. They’re are largely meant to even out the tiers in the hopes of making the game more competitive, and it’ll be hard to see how well Capcom did until the community has spent more time with the game, though initial impressions are positive. I don’t think anyone is mourning the loss of the vortex.

In a rather inspired move, Capcom has also provided players with the ability to select which edition of a character they would like to play, which makes for some very interesting matchups. Wanna pit the incredibly powerful Street Fighter IV version of Sagat against AE 2012’s nasty Yun? Or maybe you want to toss Super Street Fighter IV’s beastly Akuma into the ring with Ultra’s buffed Ken? You can do that, at least offline, and it’s a cool feature that allows players to jump into the game with any version of a character while being able to enjoy all of Ultra’s other additions, which are considerable.

" Capcom has finally gotten around to adding Ultra specific challenges for the entire cast, but they’re not much good for anything other than practicing specific combos and getting a general feel for each character.

There are also six new stages to choose from, one of which features an incredibly cool pair of T-Rexes and gives off serious The Lost World: Jurassic Park vibes, and a number of new gameplay features and modes, as well. The new Red Focus mechanic allows you to burn meter to absorb more punishment than a normal Focus Attack, while Delayed Wake Up provides a way out of the infamous vortex, and makes knockdowns a guessing game for the attacker and the defender, rather than just the latter. The last puzzle piece comes to us in the form of Ultra Combo Double, which lets you access both of your character’s Ultras at once at the price of reduced damage.

Each of these changes seriously impacts the way the game plays, and will keep the most competitive World Warriors busy for a long time. These new gameplay wrinkles are complimented by a number of new modes and quality of life improvements like an online training mode, a series first, as well as Elimination, a 3-on-3 match that operates similarly to a round in King of Fighters. The last big addition is native YouTube uploading, which allows you to save both online and offline matches and upload them to YouTube without ever leaving your console, though said videos are unfortunately capped at 480p.

Unfortunately, all of these additions throw into light all of the things that Ultra Street Fighter IV still lacks. Capcom has finally gotten around to adding Ultra specific challenges for the entire cast, but they’re not much good for anything other than practicing specific combos and getting a general feel for each character. As good as Street Fighter IV is, Capcom’s general lack of interest in the challenges (it took them months to finally release the ones for Ultra) shines a bright light on one of Street Fighter IV’s largest problems: this is a game that has no interest in teaching you how to play.

"Neither one of these things – the lack of teaching tools of any real merit, and the inconsistencies in presentation that mostly crop up around the new characters – is a dealbreaker, but it will be more than a little jarring to new players who are making their first journey into the wonderful world of Street Fighter.

To be fair, this is a problem fighting games have been struggling with since the genre’s inception. It’s a ridiculous problem, really, and any other genre would be crucified for it. Could you imagine if RTS games like StarCraft didn’t feature comprehensive tutorials? What about something like DOTA 2, Braid, or STALKER? It would be awful. People would be infuriated. But somehow, it’s become not only commonplace in fighting games, but acceptable.

This was a problem ten years ago when only Tekken and Soul Calibur had anything resembling passable teaching tools, but now, when Killer Instinct’s tutorial teaches you not just fighting games, but universal concepts like frame data, buffering, and hitboxes? Now, when Blazblue will teach you every mechanic and major combo for every character? Now, when Injustice allows you to view frame data, and when it’s challenges will walk you through a number of complex ideas and mechanics? It’s absolutely unacceptable that Ultra Street Fighter IV’s trials are so barebones, and baffling that Capcom didn’t use what is undoubtedly their last chance at updating Street Fighter IV to add more complete teaching tools.

It’s also rather depressing that Capcom hasn’t given the new characters the nice pre-fight videos that occur when you fight their rival in arcade mode. Neither one of these things – the lack of teaching tools of any real merit, and the inconsistencies in presentation that mostly crop up around the new characters – is a dealbreaker, but it will be more than a little jarring to new players who are making their first journey into the wonderful world of Street Fighter.

"The few problems that the game does have do little to diminish Street Fighter IV’s enduring greatness, especially when you consider the $25 price tag, which includes all of the previously released DLC costumes, and the fact that it supports PS3 fightsticks, provided you have a DualShock 4 connected for each one.

Much has been made of the technical issues that plagued the PS4 version on release, and with good reason. They were considerable, and including input latency, lag in online matches, animation problems, disappearing projectiles, and a number of audio issues. In fact, the problems were so serious that the PS4 version was dropped from Evo, the world’s premier fighting game tournament, in favor of the Xbox 360 version. It was a rough few weeks for Capcom and Sony, especially considering that this version was supposed to be the one that finally brought 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second to a console version of the world’s most popular fighting game. Capcom and Sony have been working hard to set things right, however, and the final result is easily the best version of the game on consoles, just as we were promised.

The few problems that the game does have do little to diminish Street Fighter IV’s enduring greatness, especially when you consider the $25 price tag (for the digital version. There are no physical versions at the time of this writing), which includes all of the previously released DLC costumes, and the fact that it supports PS3 fightsticks, provided you have a DualShock 4 connected for each one. It’s kind of a steal, really; Ultra is easily the best and most accessible console version of the title on the market and will do more than enough to keep you busy until next year’s Street Fighter V.

I don’t envy Capcom, having to follow up on this game; having to outdo 44 characters, Ultras, and Focus Attacks, the endless amount of hype. How do you begin to approach that, that legacy? I don’t know. It won’t be easy, but we’ll always have Street Fighter IV. And in that regard, in securing that legacy, Ultra does more than enough. So, whaddya say? You wanna go another round?

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Sony Computer Entertainment America is looking for a Senior Character Blendshape Artist for its Visual Arts Services Group, as part of its Product Development Services Group. In charge of animation, cinematics, art and scanning, the listing indicates that it will “bring highly-realistic faces to life for both cinematic and in-game sequences. The successful candidate will be working with all of the triple A studios like Naughty Dog and Guerrilla.

This indicates that the work will be on upcoming PS4 games like Guerrilla’s Horizon, Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and whatnot. The candidate’s prime responsibilities involve “bringing highly-realistic faces to life for both cinematic and in-game sequences” along with “final tweaks to the topology edge-flow and determine the final positioning and refinement to key assets such as eyes, teeth, tongue and eyelashes.”

This essentially means a finer level of detail to facial models, as seen in Naughty Dog’s latest work on Uncharted 4. “Sculpting a series of high-resolution wrinkle maps to add a final level of polish and nuance to the expressions” is one of Visual Arts Services Group’s prime responsibilities as well.

What are your thoughts on all this additional detail going into future PS4 titles? Let us know in the comments.

The Sony PS4 is approaching 80 percent of market share in certain countries, according to SCEA CEO Andrew House. House was speaking earlier this week at the Electronic Investor Relations Day where he trumpeted the success of his company’s newest console, according to new information.

House talked about one of the two big strengths the PS offers is, “a really significant global reach, and particularly very strong market share in many countries outside of Europe. I think we’re almost approaching an 80% market share of next generation in many of these territories.”

House said that one of the big benefits of having this kind of market share is that it offsets the bargaining power of some of the bigger development houses in the video game industry. Despite that claim, at the same event, House talked at length about how his company was having problems getting exclusives from 3rd party developers that are only offered on the PS4.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons that the reports that Sony is already looking at its next console is gaining traction. There would be nothing better, from Sony’s perspective than getting a supposed PS5 onto the market as quickly as possible. If there are countries where they are already dominating the market with the current generation of consoles, it would only make sense to further press their advantage by being the first, or only company to have the next generation on the market as well.

It should be pointed out that House talked only about the success of the PS4 and seems plenty happy with its performance for the moment.

A long time ago, Sony and PlayStation were unassailable- the original PlayStation had been a trailblazing console, and the PlayStation 2 might go down in history as one of the most successful products in any industry, of all time.

But then something changed- maybe the success got to Sony, maybe Sony misread the market, no one knows. But Sony stumbled, and the PlayStation 3 launched and sunk, thanks to Sony’s ineptness in handling it. Sony spent the next seven years trying to recover, and with the PlayStation 4, they seem to be back on track.

Jack Tretton was SCEA’s leading man for over a decade. He no longer works there, but he did reflect on his time there in a recent interview with Polygon. Here is what he especially had to say about the PS3 and PS4 launches:

“PlayStation 3 was the biggest and boldest leap in technology and may have been too aggressive initially,” Tretton said. “The production challenges and costs proved to be a major challenge.”

“Microsoft executed a great generation of hardware,” Tretton said. “The Nintendo Wii ushered in millions of new gamers and caught everyone by surprise.”

He did say that all three systems were successful in the end- which is probably right, and holds more true for the last generation than any other generation yet.

“Ultimately, all three platforms enjoyed success and gamers had more choice and innovation than any previous generation had offered,” Tretton said.

Having said all of that, he also believes that all the hard learned lessons with the PS3 are what led to the PS4’s successful launch.

“PlayStation 4 was the culmination of many hard lessons learned,” Tretton said. “Lots of consumer insights were applied. The software development community was brought in early and the production and distribution strategy was aggressive.”

It helps when a company learns from its mistakes. Here is hoping Sony don’t make any more, and that Microsoft and Nintendo both learn from theirs- this industry is the best when all three consoles are thriving.

Pramath Parijat: To begin with, can you please let us know a bit about yourself and the company you work for?

Sure, I’m David Nottingham, one of the Co-Founders for Dynamighty and a Creative Director here.

Pramath Parijat: One immediate feature that caught my eye is the art style. What was the inspiration behind going for such a unique setting?

I’m going to let Mark Holmes handle this, as he led the Visual Development 🙂

Mark – Both David & I knew from Day One that we wanted to make a strong visual statement with the game. We are both much more aligned creatively to visual stylization in games. Bond is obviously a touchstone for this but we like to go deeper and look at a lot of the other design & art that was part of the culture of that era.

Also, the espionage genre was a huge thing in the 50s, very evident in books, TV & movies so we wanted to draw on the broader pallete to create a feel that was our own. I started with pulling period reference like mid-century modern architecture, graphic design, film & television title design (such as Saul Bass), as well as the architecture, propaganda of the period. As the tone of the game was playful, we also wanted a graphic style that was fun and edgy that could read well on small displays like the Vita.

"Our protagonist is an Agent for C.O.U.N.T.E.R, an independent spy agency considered a rogue entity by the world’s nations. He is called into action when the world's superpowers embark on a twisted Space Race."

Pramath Parijat: I really like how the camera switches from side scrolling to third person. Can you explain how does it impact gameplay?

Although the game is a side-scroller, we wanted to make full use of the fact that we built the world in 3D. The switch to 3rd person was a way for us to open up the spaces for combat while keeping the controls accessible. It also allows us to convey some cinematic feel for the game, which was another way we could pay homage to the cinematic roots of 50s espionage.

Pramath Parijat: Tell us about the protagonist of the game? How does he get involved and what is his goal?

Our protagonist is an Agent for C.O.U.N.T.E.R, an independent spy agency considered a rogue entity by the world’s nations. He is called into action when the world’s superpowers embark on a twisted Space Race. Instead of trying to put a moon on the moon, they are racing to be first to destroy it with Nuclear Weapons! That seems a bad idea to C.O.U.N.T.E.R so you have to stop them.

Pramath Parijat: Since the game takes place in an alternate history Cold War. What tweaks have you made to the story to accommodate your alternate vision?

We took great pains to fictionalize the world. We wanted people to enjoy the satirical tone and playful style, without too much of the real world Cold War history getting in the way. The Cold War was a pretty grim time in recent history! But it also gave us an amazing run of awesome espionage thrillers, whether books, TV shows or movies.

We wanted to capture that sense of style & fun.
At the same time, we wanted to use the symbolism of 2 opposing forces facing off against each other, blinded by there ideological fear of the other, to have some resonance for people that like a bit of deeper meaning in there videogames.

"We've applied a pretty light touch to the stealth mechanics in CounterSpy. One thing we wanted to avoid, is that feeling when you get spotted, that need to reset the level."

Pramath Parijat: Will the PS4 version run at 1080p and 60fps on the PS4?

We are targeting 60FPS and its running very nicely. It’s really smooth on PS4. We also added a bunch of extra VFX to dress it up. And it runs at 1080p!

Pramath Parijat: Are there plans to support cross buy and cross save across the PS4, PS3 and PS Vita?

Absolutely! The game supports Cross Buy and Cross Save.

Pramath Parijat: How many levels/missions the game has and how many hours it will take to complete all of them?

Hard question to answer. The game uses procedural systems to stitch levels together, so even when you finish and replay, you won’t see the same sequence of rooms and enemies. Also, it’s not a strictly linear game. Your objective is to gather Launch Plans not just go from a to b. Also, even after unlocking the final rocket base, you can keep playing to increase your score!

Pramath Parijat: CounterSpy is a stealth game making enemy AI an important element. What have you learnt from games like Metal Gear Solid and applied to enemy behavior in CounterSpy?

We’ve applied a pretty light touch to the stealth mechanics in CounterSpy. One thing we wanted to avoid, is that feeling when you get spotted, that need to reset the level. In CounterSpy, if you get spotted, you can fight your way out of your immediate situation and when you get into another room the enemies are reset back into stealth mode.

Instead of punishing the player for ‘failing’ at stealth we reward the player with stealth combos. The more you do in a row, the higher the points multiple, and if you don’t care about your high score, pts convert to $$ at the end of the level, which are crucial to buying weapons & ammo.

"As you progress in the game, you find blueprints that complete to unlock weapons. There are also formulas that you also unlock the same way."

Pramath Parijat: Are there any plans to add weapon customization and a skill tree?

As you progress in the game, you find blueprints that complete to unlock weapons. There are also formulas that you also unlock the same way. Formulas act like perks, and are active for the next level. As the game gets progressively tougher, formulas are a critical tool to help you combat the tougher enemies and stop the DEFCON getting too high.

Pramath Parijat: How was it like working on the PlayStation 4? Was the development smooth and silky or did you faced any challenges?

I’ll let John (Our Technical Director) answer this! 🙂

John – Getting CounterSpy running on PS4 was actually pretty smooth! The game was already running well on PS3 and Vita which obviously helps, but the power of the PS4 let us go to the next level. We were able to up the resolution to 1080 while keeping a really good framerate. There is always work involved in supporting a new platform but overall it was way easier than other consoles I’ve worked on.

Pramath Parijat: Is there anything else you want to tell us before we take off?

We hope everyone enjoys the game! It’s our first game together as a studio so we are excited to get it into people’s hands.
Oh also follow us on twitter @dynamighty and check out our tumblr http://dynamighty.tumblr.com/ for some more insight into the process of making the game!

The main objective in each mission is to collect a certain number of nuclear weapon plans from either the Imperialists (USA) or the Socialists (Russia), before exiting the area. The concept of infiltrating both countries in this era is not something you see very often, but it is nice to see a neutral take on the subject matter.

" The concept of infiltrating both countries in this era is not something you see very often, but it is nice to see a neutral take on the subject matter. "

When enemies become aware of your presence, or you die, the defcon level is raised gradually. Level 5 is the lowest level, and it can be raised as far as 0. If the defcon level reaches 0 during a mission, you have 60 seconds to get to the end of the level before the country you infiltrated launches it’s nuclear weapons. If that happens, game over. In theory this gives you a maximum of 5 deaths to complete a level before having to restart completely with a different layout (I’ll get to this later). You must be careful because the defcon level will carry on to the next mission. There are ways to lower the defcon level through formulas and holding up special officer rank enemies, but for the most part the best way to keep this in check is to just not get caught.

Throughout the missions you will collect pieces of weapon blueprints, and chemical formula components. Usually all of the pieces for these will be on the same level, so if you do a bit of exploring you will unlock them in no time.  If you miss a few, its no big deal as they will appear again. The weapons are standard fare for the most part, silenced pistols, tranq guns, assault rifles, shotguns, etc. But the formulas provide unique buffs for the player to take on the next mission. Examples of these include lowering the defcon level, making your movements more silent, or taking less damage from enemies.

As a gamer for almost 20 years, its not often that a game does something I haven’t seen before but Counterspy delivers in that respect. The game uses a dynamic cover system that switches the perspective from a 2D side scrolling view to a 3D aiming perspective. This is useful for hiding from patrolling guards, or engaging them in intense firefights. It isn’t the first 2D sidescroller to allow cover, however the switch in perspective while doing so is an innovative addition to the genre that I hope gets noticed by other developers.

" It isn’t the first 2D sidescroller to allow cover, however the switch in perspective while doing so is an innovative addition to the genre that I hope gets noticed by other developers. "

Although the campaign has a definite start and end, the levels you play to get there are procedurally generated. Layouts, collectables, and enemy locations will change when quitting a mission and coming back later. This adds a certain replayability that a lot of games lack. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a rogue-lite like Spelunky or Rogue Legacy, but the inspiration is definitely there. Think less “random” and more “curated.” As stated above, whenever you get a game over and reenter a mission, the layout will be different as well.

You may notice from the screenshots that Counterspy has a familiar look and tone. This makes sense as the creative director is a former art director of Pixar, working on notable projects such as The Incredibles, Monsters Inc., and Wall-E. Everything from the character designs, to the classic 60s cold war motifs are beautifully realized and consistent.

"I wouldn't go as far as to call it a rogue-lite like Spelunky or Rogue Legacy, but the inspiration is definitely there. Think less “random” and more “curated.” "

Keeping in tradition with Sony’s recent indie titles, the game is cross-buy and cross-save with the Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita. Which means that when you buy one version, you automatically get the others. On top of that, your saves will dynamically upload to the cloud and remain the same no matter where you are playing. This is old hat for Vita owners at this point, but the way the game seamlessly does this without having to fiddle around with save settings is fairly new. As usual playing on these other systems will mean a hit in graphical quality, resolution, and framerate but the game holds up either way. Make no mistake though, the best version is on Playstation 4 by far.

Overall Counterspy is a great addition to the Playstation brand, and is hopefully a sign of more new IPs coming down the pipe. If you enjoy classic cold war era spy action, Counterspy is oozing with style and integrity. The enemy AI is a little inconsistent and can cause frustration with the defcon system, and the game is maybe a bit too short, but these things don’t bring down an otherwise great game.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.