High on the list are such stand-outs from E3 as Flower, PixelJunk Eden and The Last Guy Standing, but there's also a nice selection of some newer titles like old-school side-scroller Crash Commando, tower strategy game Savage Moon and Warhawk's Operation Fallen Star expansion pack which includes, yes, jet packs.

Full list and descriptions on the jump.

PLAYSTATION®Network showcases major releases including Flower™, Fat Princess™, The Last Guy™, Rag Doll Kung Fu™ and Ratchet & Clank™: Quest For Booty – while Super Stardust™ HD goes portable

Leipzig Games Convention, 20th August 2008: PLAYSTATION®Network is the premier source of downloadable games content, with a huge offering of fun, innovative new games as well as classic PlayStation® titles. Already boasting huge successes with the likes of PixelJunk™ Monsters, Super Stardust HD™ and echochrome™, PLAYSTATION Network is ushering in a new generation of top titles from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) with the following on show at Games Convention 2008.

Flower™
A true escape from the modern world, Flower challenges traditional gaming conventions with a lush, vivid environment in which players control the wind, using petals to reshape and revive their game surroundings. Using simple SIXAXIS™ wireless controllers, play involves flight and exploration, as you guide a petal across the landscape. Collecting additional petals and feel the gameplay change from serene to chaotic as you collect more and more. With more than 200,000 individually animated blades of grass, Flower is a game only possible thanks to the power of PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™).

Fat Princess™
In modern life, obesity is a social concern but, in medieval times, it was a key battle tactic! The Fat Princess of the title is your own over-fed royal that you must rescue from your enemy’s dungeon – if you can carry the porky madam to safety, that is. Choose the role of a warrior, archer, mage, worker or priest; your most important weapon here is teamwork as you work alongside up to 15 other players online to defeat the enemy team across ten individual maps and over numerous gameplay modes. Bringing countless players together on PLAYSTATION Network, Fat Princess™ is a blast of hilarious, furious multiplayer fun.

Crash Commando™
Old school gameplay meets next generation technology in Crash Commando™, mixing classic side-scrolling action with intense multiplayer fun in the ultimate slapstick shooter. Up to 12 players slug it out online or offline in frenzied death-matches, taking control of jetpacks, jeeps and tanks on two gameplay layers which can be moved between seamlessly via portals. Sign up with either the Jarheads or the Grunts in all-out warfare for world supremacy on a battlefield strewn with exaggerated gore and special effects. Track your victories with online leaderboards, rankings and trophy support.

Rachet & Clank™: Quest For Booty
Ratchet and Clank make their return in a bite-sized mini-adventure filled with their trademark crazy weaponry, side-splitting comedy and dazzling 3D animation in this treasure-hunting adventure. Help Ratchet sail solo into a world of galleons, parrots and cutlasses in his quest to uncover booty and his missing mate Clank. Journey through the dark caves of Hoolefar Island, navigate the treacherous Viper Caverns and take on foul-tempered buccaneer and new nemesis Captain Darkwater. Beware: danger lurks around every corner.

The Last Guy™
Set in the aftermath of a strange event that has caused many people to turn into fierce monsters, this fast-paced and fun game challenges players to save humanity by leading everybody else through the streets of world cities to safety. With a focus on gameplay rather than gore, The Last Guy is a game that’ll keep you coming back for more monster mayhem every time. Gather the survivors into lines and lead them through the streets of 14 world cities - all recreated with stunning aerial photography. Each city has an escape zone which you must lead your lines of people into while avoiding the enemy at all costs...

Savage Moon™
Classic tower strategy gameplay heads into outer space in Savage Moon™, as players attempt to protect an isolated planetary outpost from rampaging hordes of gigantic, ravenous space bugs. Position your towers in the best position possible to beat the bugs and convert your victory points into weapons that suit your preferred tactics. Classic strategy gaming meets interstellar gameplay with endless strategic possibilities – can you beat the bugs and save the moon?

PixelJunk Eden™
Prepare to be stunned by PixelJunk Eden™, the game that challenges you to help alien plants flower and bloom in a psychedelic, hypnotic Garden of Eden. Smash into enemies to release batches of pollen, making your flowers grow. Swing higher and higher through your growing paradise, climbing up iridescent stems, swinging from twirling branches, swaying on psychedelic flowers and searching the undergrowth for hidden treasures – with mesmerising graphics and electronic soundtrack created by Japanese artist Baiyon.

Rag Doll Kung Fu™
Rag Doll Kung Fu is a party fighting game based on the ancient principles of kung fu and rag-doll physics. Fast-paced combat, exaggerated action and unique visuals come together in a game that is easy for beginners but has enough depth in its combat system to keep hardcore fighters coming back for more. Using simple SIXAXIS motions to pull off special moves and combat sequences, players compete in matches with up to four other players either online or offline. The perfect party game for experts and beginners alike.

Warhawk™: Operation: Fallen Star expansion pack
The third expansion pack for mighty online warfare title Warhawk, Operation: Fallen Star introduces the remote, forested Tau Crater – the site of a crashed Chernovan warship containing invaluable experimental technology. With the Chernovans trying desperately to salvage the ship, the Eucadians have arrived with a view to stealing it for themselves. This pack brings ten new battlefields to the Warhawk experience – as well as the Infantry Jetpack – a personal rocket pack that allows soldiers to soar above the fray of battle into the aerial realm of the Warhawks themselves.

WipEout™HD
The arrival of WipEout® HD on PLAYSTATION®3 marks the dawning of a new era for the iconic racer, so strap yourself in for anti-gravity combat racing in full 1080p High Definition. Choose a futuristic craft then speed into the thick of the action in adrenaline-fuelled races across eight reversible tracks full of smooth loops, sharp bends and sheer drops. Master the ultra-realistic motion sensitive controls; unleash high-tech weapons to blast your opponents off the track. Take part in global online racing for up to eight players, compete for trophies and test your skills against the best pilots on the planet.

Super Stardust™ Portable for PSP™
One of the most popular PLAYSTATION Network titles arrives on PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable), making outer-space action mobile, so wherever you go, a blast of furious intergalactic shooter fun is close at hand. Retaining all the aspects that made Super Stardust a hit on PS3, Super Stardust Portable is sure to follow in the successful footsteps of its home system counterpart.

All of these titles will be on show at Leipzig 2008, so make you check out the future of PLAYSTATION Network gaming with these incredible, inventive downloadable titles.

In short, you're getting new insignias, new paint jobs, custom soundtracks, Trophies, tutorials and very painful looking "Ceremonial Blades" in the next free Warhawk update. What you're not getting are those jetpacks. For that, you'll have to wait for the rumored booster pack, beans from which may possibly be spilled at the Leipzig Games Convention (or so hints Warhawk producer Dylan Jobe).

Warhawk v1.5 Update “Free Never Gets Old!” [PlayStation.blog]

A posted list of alleged 57 attainable Trophies in the PlayStation 3 version of Warhawk features three jetpack specific achievements — Aerial Ballet, Are You Aim-Botting? and That Was Some Bug. Jobe may have been hinting at the inclusion of the new ride on a post about the Warhawk 1.4 update on the official PlayStation Blog last month.

Consider it rumor for now (*cough* GameFAQs *cough*), until we get some confirmation from SCEA and/or Incognito.

UPDATE: We did hear back from SCEA, who say the list of Warhawk Trophies at GameFAQs is indeed accurate. Jetpacks ahoy!

Warhawk [GameFAQs - via PS3 Fanboy] [Image]

Warhawk v1.4 Update “Free Gameplay Modes!!” [PlayStation.Blog]

Warhawk DLC bundle incoming [CVG]

Warhawk GGL Tournament! [PlayStation.Blog]

Jaffe explains how Heartland came to be and came to not be, as the game was a bad fit with the Warhawk developer from the get go. The intended follow up to God of War was planned as an emotional response to the Bush administration, but at the core, Jaffe says "what we really wanted to do was create the definitive shooter for the PlayStation Portable." That, obviously, didn't happen, and it doesn't sound like it ever will.

Inside David Jaffe's Heartland [The Escapist]

Warhawk Contest Winners! Plus v1.3 trailer! [PlayStation.blog]

We just released an expansion on Warhawk in September, and we'll release another one in April.

"You can roll this around a map and it's like this clean blank canvas for combat," he said. "When it's driving around it works as a mobile forward spawn point and when you spawn into it you get additional equipment."

Jobe said the APC will also be able to deploy a piece of equipment that is "like the mother of all bubble shields" and is a couple of hundred feet wide.

Enemies won't be able to shoot into it but allies will be able to shoot out and when a Warhawk gets too close to it it came become unstable and explode.

While the APC won't have a weapon of its own it does have a turbo boost, Jobe said, which can turn the entire vehicle into a giant missile of sorts.

"I've had kills before where I've launched through a Warhawk in an APC," he said.

The booster pack will come with a new battlefield which has ten layouts and it will also include new layouts for existing maps.

While Jobe was hesitant to peg a specific date, because the pack is still being play tested, he did say that he hopes to get it out by the end of next month of the first half of April.

While Operation Broken Mirror won't come with new gameplay modes, Jobe said they are talking about creating some and if they do come they will likely be released as free patches.

"I'd hope we would add new game modes, game modes are things I don't think gamers should have to pay for," he said.

I also asked Jobe about the possibility of a single-player campaign being released for Warhawk, which was once meant to include single-player play, either as an expansion pack or episodic content.

"We made a conscious strategic decision to go multiplayer only, If we were to go single player we would probably address it in another product," he said. "As a player I don't know if I would want to play single player through episodic content. I'd be hesitant."

Jobe added that Incognito isn't just 100 percent Warhawk nowadays either.

"Right now we are working on some exciting things," he said. "But we can't make any announcements."

Sure, you could do that with text or voice chat, but it sounds like the developers have gone the extra mile to make planning your battles even cooler.

Using a three-dimensional "sand table" replication of the level, Warhawk players are said to be able to lay out their strategies in a properly scaled space. They'll even be able to place little army men avatars around the map to envision their formations, something we hope they can also do with teeny tiny Warhawk planes, tanks and Jeeps.

The Warhawk war room is said to also serve as a launchpad for games, thankfully, so jumping into a match shouldn't require leaving the Home interface.

This is one of the coolest additions, in my personal opinion, to come to Home and the kind of thing that we hope is replicated and improved upon by other developers for their team-based titles.

Warhawk v1.3 Patch details [Playstation.Blog]

The contest is open to U.S. residents only (blame the lawyers!) and entrants would be wise to read the rules before firing up MS Paint. May we suggest a tasteful blend of tropical pink, chartreuse, white and black? Possibly with a bold "K" for your decal? Just riffing, here.

Warhawk Paint & Insignia Contest! [PlayStation.blog]

To celebrate the release of the Omega Dawn expansion pack for Warhawk, a new theme joins the store alongside the release of the PSone original. You'll marvel at how far graphics have come since then. The full list of stuff is available after the jump.

Games
Toy Home ($9.99)
Snakeball ($9.99)
Snakeball Demo (free)
Trials of Topoq ($4.99) - requires the PlayStation Eye
Mesmerize: Distort ($1.99)
BlackSite: Area 51 Demo (free)

Expansions and Add-ons
Warhawk: Omega Dawn ($7.99)
Folklore Holiday Add-On (free)
MotorStorm Holiday Skin (free)
Guitar Hero III Add-On (free) - Contains "We Three Kings"
High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition Add-On 1 (free) - Adds three game types: Omaha, Pineapple and Crazy Pineapple
High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition Add-On 2 (free) - Adds two game types: 5 Card Draw and 7 Card Stud
Rock Band Add-Ons ($1.99 each) - "Brass in Pocket" by The Pretenders, "Buddy Holly" by Weezer" and "My Iron Lung" by Radiohead

Game Videos
Devil May Cry 4 "Final" Trailer
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Trailer
PlayStation 3 "Universe of Entertainment"
PlayStation 3 "Only On"
PSP "Features"
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground "Mike V's Skater Story" Trailer
Turok - Gameplay Vignette #3 Dino Mauling
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune "Facial Animation"
Warhawk Omega Dawn Trailer

Movie Trailers
Strange Wilderness
Shakira Oral Fixation Tour (Blu-ray)

Themes and Wallpapers
Warhawk Theme
PAIN Cookie Theme
PAIN Santa Theme
High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition Wallpaper

While some of the inclusions will be contested—Warhawk gets props for dumping single player?—and some are certainly recycled—Ultima Online "innovated" with its graphical overhaul years ago—the argument could be made that at least these efforts were successful. Others, like Portal just being Portal, will probably find few detractors.

They might not have been my choices, but I suppose I'll have to back that up with my own list.

TOP 10 GAME DESIGN INNOVATIONS 2007 [Next-Gen.biz]

Yes and no. Looks like Warhawk is getting an ESRB rating for the Playstation Portable, but it's probably not the Warhawk you're thinking of.

As much as I'd love to see the PS3's Warhawk make its way to the PSP in some form (like using the PSP as a rear view or to play remotely), my sources at Sony tell me there are no current plans for such a beast. Instead this is more than likely just the rumblings of the original Warhawk becoming a PSOne downloadable game on the Playstation network.

Warhawk ready to fly on the PSP too? [Siliconera]

Jobe and crew have posted new pictures of the expansion and put a $7.99 price tag on the thing. The date is still sometime in December and the gameplay descriptions of taking down the dropship sound just nifty.

Operation: Omega Dawn [PlayStation.blog]

More details and poor grammar choices at ThreeSpeech.

WARHAWK EXPANSION PACK SOON COME! [ThreeSpeech]

* 5 New layouts.
* Clan game server option.
* Buddy slot reservations.
* Integrated Warhawk Store.
* Updated CTF capture/return behavior.
* Internal stat padder protection.
* Booster Pack status display at join game list.
* DualShock3 integration.
* Separate SIXAXIS motion control on/off per mode (ground, hover, flight).
* Detailed Player Score display at end of game fixed.
* Added new server type filters (player, ranked, dedicated, clan, Official Warhawk, etc).
* Added new server full/open filter.
* Fall damage exploit fixed.
* Dismount into walls exploit fixed.
* Invisible Tank, Turret & Warhawk exploit fixed.
* Auto-kick of idle players.
* Add to Favorites button added to end game screen.
* Increased VOIP volume when not using headset.

Warhawk v1.2 Patch [PlayStation.blog]

Warhawk's 1.1 patch is hitting by the end of the month and along with it a new form of in-game judge and jury: The Arbiters.

First the patch info though, 1.1 looks to be mostly about dealing with ping issues, stability and stat problems. Hit the jump for all of the mumbo-jumbo. What I really find interesting is Warhawk's advent of the arbiter. The Warhawk arbiters are members of the online services groups in the US and Europe who will be keeping an eye on the leader boards, community stats and in-games, all undercover.

Essentially these men and women will be on the hunt for griefers and cheaters and will be armed with the ability to warn players or "call a player out to prove his or her skills." Their Judge Dredd like judgment can take the form of an email warning, forum post, a kick from a game, a full stat cleansing or banning. Pretty interesting idea for an online shooter I think, typically this is more something you see with MMOs.

Warhawk v1.1 Patch and Arbiters [Playstation Blog]

Server-side updates
* Stat database stability improvements
* Improved server stability
* Max Clan limit changed from 32 to 64
* Viral Rank-up bug fixed and correct for players that were accidentally ranked up.
* "Time-in-Vehicle" Stats fixed so certain awards can now be granted properly.

Client-side updates for Patch v1.1
* Stat connection, fetch/post fixes
* Significantly improved client connection stability
* Quad "????" Ping display bug fixed.
* Added support for Player-Ranked Servers.
* Game synchronization fixes due to fluctuating network conditions (packet-drop).
* Crash fixes for end of game and split screen.

N'gai Croal reports that Sony will start selling a $40 version of Warhawk in stories later this month. The $40 version, matching the price of the download-only version available on the Playstation Network, won't come with the Jabra Bluetooth packed in that comes with the $60 version of the game.

The $40 version will go on sale starting Oct. 10, according to GamStop, but Sony reps were only able to confirm the price and not the date to Croal. This could be a new pricing strategy for Sony, though I think it would make more sense in the future to release both a bundle and a non-bundle at stores on the same day rather than waiting to start selling the game-only version at stores.

EXCLUSIVE: $39.99 Version of the PS3 Game Warhawk, Minus Bluetooth Headset, To Hit Retail Stores Later This Month [Level Up]

Wait. What? Seriously. What?

Mr Lair says: "Warhawk's controls are... eurgh!" [Games Radar]

And for those who don't have a PS3, we'll be doing this when Halo 3 comes out.

I've always liked the little scale models of machinery and weaponry from games, but my crafting prowess is confined to embroidery and quilting. Perhaps if any Kotakuites make the effort to put this one together, you can let us know how it turns out.

Official Warhawk website - under Media/Downloads

We weren't happy with single player for quite some time, and we spent quiet a bit of time trying to get it on track. We were confronted with making a decision of spreading our efforts so thin that players got a mediocre single player and a mediocre multi-player, or focusing our efforts in one direction. Not that we wanted mediocrity, but we felt like if we continued down the path we were on that's what was going to happen...

...I'd love to say that Warhawk is breaking new ground in multiplayer gaming, but it's not really, and it sounds weird to say. There are conventions that have been in place in PC gaming for quite some time, and it's not smoke and mirrors... When we made the decision to drop the single player campaign and go forward in the direction of online multi-player only with Warhawk we tried to reset the machine and say, ok multi-player console gaming is this, this, and this, but are those really the best practices? And the answer we came up with was no, they're not, because there are something's from the world of PC gaming that should have come over. That was kind of our approach. We didn't want to just take console gaming to the next level, we said let's wait and assess the landscape and pick the best parts. There are something's that are great and something's for PC gaming that are great, and there's no reason they can't be worked together...

...I'm sick of developers that I've read in interviews spewing B.S. like, "This game is absolutely revolutionary and you should all go out and buy it." You know what, gamers are going to ultimately decide it's good or not. We made what was truthfully a very painful decision to focus on what we felt was going to yield a great product for players. And thankfully Sony has adjusted the price and done the bundle for retail to try to supplement that...

Warhawk showed up on my doorstep yesterday, and while I didn't receive a fancy pleather journal with it, it did come with the Jabra headset and a little USB charger. The headset feels a bit on the cheap side, but I'm sure it will work out just fine for the game. Now to find time to actually play Warhawk.

Ground-Breaking Multiplayer Combat Soars onto PlayStation(R)3 (PS3(TM)) With the Arrival of Warhawk(TM)

Fast-paced, 32-player action ushers in industry first - critically acclaimed Warhawk available at retail on Blu-ray Disc(TM) and as download from PLAYSTATION(R)Network

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) announced today the North American release of the highly anticipated title Warhawk(TM), available exclusively for PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)). In Warhawk, players experience fast and dynamic multi-modal warfare, featuring white-knuckle aerial combat, armored vehicle assaults and frantic infantry combat in a massive war fought both in the skies and on the ground. In a first for the game industry, Warhawk is available to consumers both in retail stores on Blu-ray Disc(TM) (BD) and as a downloadable title via PLAYSTATION(R)Network.

An eagerly-awaited remake to the original PlayStation(R) hit of the same name, Warhawk was developed by Incognito Entertainment Inc., the acclaimed studio behind the Twisted Metal(R) franchise and cult-favorite War of the Monsters(TM). Warhawk is a multi-player only title, supporting up to 32 players battling at once for both online and offline play. Furthermore, Warhawk's QuickSplit technology allows up to four players to battle simultaneously on a single PS3 — either online or offline — with the press of a button. Featuring various multiplayer gameplay modes such as Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and a new Zone Mode designed specifically for Warhawk, players can engage in strategic team play or fend for themselves against a barrage of enemies from around the globe. Offering a full online feature set, players can also join teams or maintain clans within the Warhawk online community. Full stats, rankings, leaderboards, badges and other awards are supported and reward players for success on the battlefield. Players can also stay organized online with user-friendly communication tools.

"Warhawk's furious action-combat gameplay and brilliantly detailed landscapes demonstrate PS3's many capabilities," said Jeff Reese, director, software marketing, SCEA. "Players will move seamlessly from the fierce aerial dogfights to the heated armed assaults and vehicular attacks on the ground. Warhawk is an exhilarating addition to the PS3 line-up this fall."

Warhawk takes advantage of PS3's immense processing power in a variety of unique ways. For example, the Cell Broadband Engine(TM) — the digital heart of PS3 — provides the player an enhanced visual scope by rendering long viewing distances when in flight mode, resulting in a level of feature density unmatched in the genre. Furthermore, unlike the traditional server model, Warhawk allows players to use PS3s in their homes as global servers to host online games. This helps ensure that along with the SCEA servers, players can access consumer-hosted, community servers that are available to players around the world.

Adding to the thrill of piloting the most advanced fighter in the fleet, players can opt to use the SIXAXIS(TM) wireless controller's motion sensing technology to directly control their warhawk in flight, or "steer" their moving vehicle on land using the roll, pitch and yaw motion controls.

Warhawk is available for download directly from PLAYSTATION(R)Network for $39.99, and on BD through select retailers for $59.99. The retail version of Warhawk includes a Jabra Bluetooth(R) headset that comes in an exclusive piano black color and emphasizes the fun and strategic element of communication during gameplay. The BD version also includes bonus video content.

The independent Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rates Warhawk "T" for "Teen". For more information about the ESRB, visit http://www.esrb.org. For more information about Warhawk, visit

http://www.warhawk.com.

Personally, the only thing on my "buy or die" list is Metroid Prime 3, but with Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix also hitting digital stores this week, I'm sure I'll be plenty busy.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii)
Samus is back for another first-person adventure. One of Nintendo's big three for 2007. Do want.

Lair (PS3)
Factor 5's dragon riding game may not be getting great reviews, but it sure is pretty.

Blue Dragon (Xbox 360)
Sakaguchi and Microsoft are banking hard on this easy-on-the-eyes RPG.

Warhawk (PS3)
Incognito's multiplayer-only shooter will be tearing up the network with massive online support.

Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (PSP)
It's huge in Japan. The game that sells PSPs overseas week after week.

Dynasty Warriors Gundam (PS3, Xbox 360)
The Japanese equivalent of chocolate and peanut butter.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii)
The Tiger is back and ready to tap a little white, dimpled ball around carefully manicured lawns for 2008.

Carnival Games (Wii)
Mini-games! Yay!

What are you picking up this week?

The good stuff is right here, though. For anyone who might've missed it, Sony has uploaded a high-def version of the Metal Gear Solid 4 Games Convention trailer, "Beauty and the Beast." Clips for Heavenly Sword, Timeshift and Haze are also ready to invade your sectors. Wallpapers for WarHawk and flOw round out the gaming content.

So, kick back in your super cool pad, curl up to your special someone and make it a PlayStation Network night. Watching progress bars fill is the definition of a romantic Friday night.

More pics of the impressive quantity of PS3 racks at the official PlayStation blog.

Behind The Curtain: The Warhawk Servers [PlayStation Blog, thanks chilicoke!]

Everyone's favorite game developer Dylan Jobe just hopped onto the official Playstation Blog to announce both the date and the price(s) for the Warhawk. The game will go on sale in stores and on PSN on Aug. 28. The game will sell for $39.99 online and $59.99 in a store. The boxed version will come with some extra video content a manual and a Jabra Bluetooth headset.

Jobe points out that the game, while multiplayer only, is quite robust and says he feels it can easily deliver more than 70 hours of enjoyment. Most beta testers logged more than 30 hours and many more than 70.

Finally Jobe announced that the top 100 player in the beta are going to be receiving a fancy, very limited edition metal Warhawk Wings pin.

Warhawk Goes Gold [Playstation Blog, thanks Freneil]

The Jabra BT125 regularly retails for $44.99 but can often be purchased at a considerable discount. It's highly recommended that the Bluetooth headset not be worn out of doors, mostly based on concerns that dudes who wear Bluetooth headsets in public generally look like douchebags.

There's still no word on the cost of the PlayStation Network version which is expected to be released on or around the retail version's August 28th ship date.

Warhawk Going Retail at $59.99 [1UP]

Meanwhile, the blog has kicked off a new poll, this one asking readers what feature they'd most like to see added to the site:

Receive email updates for new posts
Additional post tagging and sharing options
Links to the most popular blog posts
Downloadable high-res screen shots
A Flickr photo stream of PlayStation picts
Desktop widget with this blog's headlines

While I love those ideas, what I'd love to see is a mystery livecam. Those things are great in development studios.
A New Poll, We Need Your Help [Playstation.Blog]

As speculated here last week, Jaffe seems to have made good on his intention to set up an independent studio, one that may focus on the kind of games he's been specializing in since his departure from overseeing the God of War franchise.

According to 1UP's report, the unnamed Jaffe and Campbell studio will be based in Utah, presumably not too far from the Warhawk developer's location in Salt Lake City. If true, it will be interesting to finally hear the unbridled thoughts of Mr. Jaffe. Michael McWhertor

Jaffe Forming Studio with Head of Incognito [1UP]

UPDATE: David Jaffe himself wrote on message board NeoGAF: "I can promise you guys I am still part of SCEA...I just got a paycheck from them! I am still 100% a Sony employee and unless I got fired today and they didn't tell me, I'm still working for them. Also, I love working with the guys at Incog and hope to work with them for a long, long time but I sure as shit ain't moving to Utah...nice as it is, I don't think I could live there long term and I don't think the good people of Utah would want me to."

By: Brian Crecente

The Xbox Live Arcade wasn't just what helped define the Xbox 360, the Xbox 360 defined what gamers and developers thought of downloadable titles.

They were, according to the 360, smaller, less fully featured games, sometimes retro titles, that sold for much less than a full game. And for the most part Nintendo followed suit when their Wii came to market.

But Sony had a different idea in mind, and now they have an uphill battle as they try to redefine what downloadable games mean to both the people who play the games and those who make them.

"The assumptions you laid out are correct," Peter Dille, Sony Computer Entertainment's Senior Vice President of Marketing, told me in a recent interview. "Because Live has been around for awhile people assumed that Sony would create a service that has checked the box in every case, if Microsoft is doing something we will too, but we are doing a lot of things differently. "

Chief among them is what sorts of games make it to the Playstation Store. While the store is already home to the sorts of demos and short-play experience games that you find on the 360's Arcade, soon it will also be home to a pair of titles that will be instrumental in Sony's battle to reshape how people think of downloadable games.

"Live Arcade offers something for people who want a certain thing," Dille said. "But a lot of the products you have seen on arcade are 'been there, done that', some feel like PC shareware practically. Our strategy was to develop games specifically for the PS3 that would show off our console."

"The games you play via Live Arcade, are those really next gen games? We are using an online distribution network in a very different way, we are not delivering yesterday's games. Online can be many things, but when it is used as a distribution vehicle it shouldn't change the game design."

While you could argue that games like Blast Factor, which plays in 1080p, and flOw, which supports the SIXAXIS motion controls, aren't really that different than games like Geometry Wars Retro Evolved, that argument starts to fall apart when you look at the Playstation Store's upcoming line-up which includes Warhawk, SOCOM: Confrontation and Pain.

In Pain, gamers have to launch a character imbued with rag-doll physics into a cityscape where they inflict damage to both the environment and the person they've just launched from a giant slingshot. While the basic game seems to include enough features to give it quite a bit of life, developer Idol Minds plans to release periodic content for the game to expand both how and where you play the game.

"Pain shows off the Playstation 3 and lends itself to episodic content delivery," Dille said.

To me, Pain represents perhaps a half step forward in online distributed console games, but Warhawk and SOCOM, they represent a leap. Both games promise to feature robust online environments, large multiplayer gatherings and both the graphics and mechanics of a game you'd expect to find sitting on a store shelf, rather than available for download from an online store. But when news first hit that Warhawk was going to be a downloadable game, most gamers seemed to view that as a step down for the title.

"We didn't make any announcement about Warhawk, all of these expectations were based on rumor or innuendo," Dille said. "We clarified our strategy at Gamer's Day."

Not only did they confirm that Warhawk would be an online-only downloadable title, but they also unveiled another interesting twist on Sony's take on Playstation Store games, that the game would also be available in stores. The Blu-Ray version will be a sort of Director's Cut or Special Edition of the Warhawk purchased online. It will come with a slew of behind the scenes and making of videos as well as a Bluetooth headset. While not yet finalized, Dille said the same will likely be true for SOCOM: Confrontation when it comes out.

"We want to use the network store to offer choice, if you don't want to leave your couch or get in your car you can just download it," Dille said. "We give people a choice and give our retail partners a chance to participate in Warhawk."

While I still think Sony faces an uphill battle in changing the notion of what a downloadable game is, Dille believes they've already won over gamers and developers.

"I think gamers got it before (last month's) Gamers Day," he said. "Six months in we had about one million seven hundred thousand users online," Dille said. Six million pieces of content have been downloaded since the launch. "We feel like people got it. We think our 44 percent attach rate will ramp up very, very quickly, as more people understand what we are doing and with the coming of Home."

"Internally, people are very, very excited about developing for the network. We are seeing a ton of great products coming for the PSN," he said. "I think there has been an education process. Our third party partners had certain assumptions about what we would offer on the PSN. They probably didn't start imagining what they could do. Did any of them imagine we would be developing games like flOw or Pain? Now we're evangelizing a different type of experience."

One that is different from the 360, in part, because of differences in the two consoles' hardware, Dille says.

"We happen to have a hard disk drive in every Playstation 3.," he said. Microsoft "is selling to a fragmented user base. We can talk to the developers and say there are no limitations on what you make for us."

And changing gamers' and developers' preconceived notions of what makes a downloadable title is just the beginning for Sony, their next big nut to crack is true episodic content.

"I don't think anyone has done episodic content in gaming well," Dille said. "Currently episodic content means delivering content periodically. Whether or not it has that story line is the missing ingredient. When you contrast that to things like TV with Lost and the Sopranos. I think as an industry we haven't tapped (episodic content) yet. We want to get people to stand around the water cooler and talk about games they way they talk about TV, 'Did you install the latest content of this game that explained a plot or cliff hanger?'"

"You have to separate a distribution vehicle from a game experience."

In an effort to while away the time, I'll be playing some new purchases. I snapped up Tomb Raider: Anniversary for the PlayStation 2 and Gunpey for the PSP last night, in addition to a Wii Classic Controller. I'll be going nuts with all three, finding time to squeeze in a little Diablo II, Odin Sphere and Warhawk beta when the time presents itself.

Yes, sleep is out. I'll also be eating standing up and brushing my teeth in the shower. So what are you looking forward to? And what are you playing this weekend? Michael McWhertor