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.

Remember former SCEE executive Shahid Ahmad who helped the company’s indie program along quite heavily before departing? It’s recently been revealed that Ahmad has joined Double Eleven, video game studio and publisher, as part of its advisory board.

Chief Operating Officer Mark South stated that, “Shahid’s incredible insight and background in the arena of independent development and publishing is overwhelmingly beneficial to Double Eleven; we’re so pleased to welcome him to our advisory board.

Shahid’s role in elevating independent games as a whole to the mainstream audience is remarkable, so it’s a great honor to have his guidance as Double Eleven continues to grow in the games space. Equally, and more personally, he is one of the hardest working people I know and his character has shown integrity and honesty throughout. I’m both proud and honoured that we’re able to work together.”

For his part, Ahmad said that, “I’m honoured to be invited to Double 11’s Advisory Board. Having worked with the Double 11 team on numerous projects while at PlayStation, I was struck by their technical excellence, their commitment to quality and their devotion to delivering great experiences to video games players. Double 11 are relentlessly driven and their many excellent qualities will I’m sure propel them to greater success as they expand their publishing ambitions.”

What are your thoughts on this development? Let us know in the comments below.

Was Sony’s E3 conference strong simply for its nostalgia or did it stand on its own as a mix of the old and new? SCEE CEO and president Jim Ryan believes it’s the former despite the fact that announcements like The Last Guardian, Shenmue 3 and Final Fantasy 7 are what stole the show.

Speaking to Metro UK’s Game Central, Ryan agreed on the increased diversity of studios in Sony. “That’s true, that’s a fair point. And it’s not just Japan, you’ll find we work with developers from all around the world for that very reason.”

On whether Sony was trying to attract older gamers or simply encourage older styles of play, though Microsoft emphasized nostalgia just as much in its E3 press conference, Ryan said, “I obviously can’t speak for them, but I think I’d probably… this might surprise you but I’m probably gonna disagree with you a bit on that, and say that I thought our show struck a very good balance between…”

Ryan further stated that, “I don’t think there was an emphasis on nostalgia.”

However, after being reminded that the biggest announcements were Final Fantasy 7 and Shenmue 3, Ryan said, “I think some of that might have been down to the reception that some of that stuff got from the audience, that I think heightened it. But I thought we struck a good balance between the old and new.”

There was still plenty of new stuff at Sony’s E3 show though. Horizon: Zero Dawn, for example, impressed more than its share of gamers. Do you agree with Ryan’s views though? Let us know in the comments.

Still waiting for the free, PS Plus Edition of DriveClub which was indefinitely delayed at launch following various woes? Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe president and CEO Jim Ryan spoke to Metro about the same and the situation is as ambiguous as ever.

On being asked whether the free version still figured into plans, Ryan said, “That’s still being looked at.” When asked if it would ship at all, he followed up with, “I can’t say anything at this stage.”

It’s a rather troubling situation, especially since the delay led to public apologies from Evolution Studios and SCE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida. Keep in mind that it’s been more than four months since DriveClub’s release and the PS Plus Edition still requires a lot of work.

Sony are still working hard to make up for the disastrous launch though. “Everybody in this building [Sony Europe HQ in London] and in the development community was absolutely distraught…I don’t think anybody should labour under the opinion that there was any feeling of insouciance or anybody being relaxed about that being the case. People were working 24/7, and that’s an expression that’s lightly used but people were working 24/7 trying to fix this.

“Now, should the game have worked at launch? Of course. Should people pay £50 for something and expect it to work? Of course.

“I think one thing that the industry appears to have misjudged in the generational transition – where there’s a lot spoken about moving to a more straightforward PC architecture that should make it easy for developers to come to terms with next gen and all of that – is I think the massively enhanced online ambitions a lot of developers and publishers have identified as one of the opportunists of next gen, appear to have been way more technically challenging than anyone realised.”

Do you agree with Ryan on the challenges that current gen consoles? What are your thoughts on DriveClub PS Plus Edition never coming out? Let us know in the comments.

If you’ve been waiting for E-Line’s Never Alone in Europe for the PS4, you’re going to have to wait slightly longer. Though the 2D title is out now on PC, Xbox One and PS4 in North America while the Xbox One and PC versions are out in Europe, the developer has announced that the PS4 version has been delayed to November 26th.

The reason for this is due to a patch which releases with the game but is yet in certification testing with SCEE. The developer stated that, “E-Line and Upper One Games are committed to delivering the best customer experience possible. While we’re disappointed that the European PS4 launch will be delayed by a week, we are confident that game players will be delighted by Never Alone when it does come out.”

Have you had a chance to play Never Alone? Let us know what you think of the game and stay tuned for information the release of the PS4 version.

Sony and Evolution Studios are working on bringing us DriveClub, the racing arcade/sim fusion that was originally slated to be a launch title for the PlayStation 4, but has since been delayed so many times so as to be of a near mythical status by now; the title has a nebulous ‘TBA 2014’ release date, and its development has been beset by issues: just yesterday, for example, news hit of a round of layoffs at developer Evolution Studios.

In spite of this, however, Sony would have us believe that things with the game are absolutely rosy, and that it is still on track to release on time. In a statement released earlier today, Sony said that it “would like to make it very clear that the development of DriveClub on PS4 is going from strength to strength. The announced studio changes across WWS yesterday have not affected the development of DriveClub or the DriveClub team, which has always had great direction and continues to do so.

“We have full confidence that the game will deliver on its PS4 promise to be the first truly socially connected racing title and we are very pleased and excited by the calibre of work from Evolution Studios.

“The progress being made on the game is spectacular,” Sony continued, “so we’re looking forward to sharing an update on development, release date and videos of the game in action in the weeks to come. We thank you for your patience and assure you, it will be worth the wait.”

Well, let’s hope so, although at this point, the natural question that arises is: does anyone really care anymore? DriveClub was going to get commercial traction because of its status as a launch title, when pickings are usually slim. Will it be able to hold its own with a hypothetical holiday 2014 release date, when PS4’s lineup is a lot more substantial, and a whole lot of new, big name games will be releasing? We’ll find out soon enough.

[VideoGamer]

If you’ve had to download games through the PlayStation Store, you’ll often find that there isn’t an option to pre-load the game right before its launch. This has been the case with inFamous: Second Son, Sucker Punch Productions’ open world superhero game, but apparently, game pre-loading could be due in April.

This comes from developer Sucker Punch, who stated that there would be, No preload on PS4 until April and for North America, the PS Store will update at midnight PST…so 3 AM EST.”

As for whether pre-loading would be coming for both Europe and North American regions, Sucker Punch replied, “Not sure about SCEE but yes on SCEA.”

InFamous: Second Son is due to arrive tomorrow for the PlayStation 4 and expectations – along with pre-order numbers – are high. Will you be picking up the game? What are your thoughts on being able to pre-load games on PSN before release? Let us know in the comments.

Before Killzone: Shadow Fall had been announced, Guerrilla Games had revealed that it had been working on a new IP after Killzone 3. Of course, when Shadow Fall made its presence known, that all went out the window as we focused on the PS4’s launch.

However, that IP is still in development and is now two and a half years into development. This came to light via a recent video released for Japanese consumers ahead of the PS4’s launch. Two minutes into the video, executive producer Angie Smets states that, “Well, we are working on a new IP, and we started on that already two-an-a-half years ago but unfortunately we cannot share details yet of the new IP, so you’ll have to be a bit more patient.”

What could it be? More importantly, when could it be? Time will tell but in the mean time, how are you finding Shadow Fall and its multiplayer? Let us know in the comments.

Guerrilla Cambridge hasn’t forgotten about Killzone: Mercenary on the PlayStation Vita. A new free update for the game, which weighs in at 167 MB, has been released on the official community page and adds two multiplayer maps.

These are Tharsis Depot and Blood Gracht. Tharsis Depot takes place in an underground mining platform wherein you’ll fight under artificial light. It acts as a sort of remake for the Killzone 2 version, and you’ll be able to play both Warzone and Guerrilla Warfare on it.

Blood Gracht is a little more familiar for standard Killzone players, taking place in the bombed city of Pyrrhus. With narrow buildings and alleys to navigate, there’s plenty of close quarters fighting going on to keep you busy. Another carry-over from Killzone 2, Blood Gracht can be played on any game mode.

What do you make of Killzone: Mercenary thus far? Are you still playing it or have you moved on to Shadow Fall via PS Vita’s Remote Play? Let us know in the comments.

Indian retailer Game4U has announced a midnight launch for the PlayStation 4 when it launches in January. The console will be out on January 5th 2014 with the launch event starting at 11:55 PM. The launch event will be taking place in the following locations:

• Mega Mall (Oshiwara, Mumbai)
• Infiniti Mall (Malad, Mumbai)
• Linking Road (Bandra, Mumbai)
• MGF Metropolis Mall (Gurgaon)
• MBD Neopolis Mall (Ludhiana)
• Elante Mall (Chandigarh)

The PS4 will launch with two – count ’em – two first party titles and a range of third party titles for consumers. So you can look forward to Killzone: Shadow Fall, Knack, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, FIFA 14, Injustice, and many more.

Make sure to preorder your console now, since there are limited supplies. The PS4 will retail for Rs. 39,990 with games retailing from Rs. 2499 to Rs. 4999. Will you be picking up the console when it launches? Let us know in the comments below.