I played 10 PSN games for fun in 2008 and finished two of them.

As I did last year, I’ve compiled a list of the games that I played for fun in 2008. One list per major gaming platform.

(Check out the rest of my 2008 Gaming Playlists for other platforms, updated daily until New Year’s.)

Today’s entry is all about the PSN, the consistently impressive service for downloadable games on the PS3.

What did I play? And which two games did I finish?

Take a look below: Read more…

I played 16 PS3 games for fun in 2008 and finished seven of them.

As I did last year, I’ve compiled a list of the games that I played for fun in 2008. One list per major gaming platform.

(Check out the rest of my 2008 Gaming Playlists for other platforms, updated daily until New Year’s.)

Today’s entry is all about the PS3, a system that was supposed to have a banner year, but managed something that felt more like just a decent one.

What did I play? And which seven games did I finish?

Take a look below: Read more…

I’ve been confused about a couple of things regarding PlayStation Home, the free virtual world now available to all PlayStation 3 users, so I recently shot the Sony public relations department a pair of basic questions.

I wanted to better understand the point of the Clubs option (this was before I discovered this excellent FAQ about it). And I wanted to know what happened to the virtual PSP, which had initially been presented as the interface Home users would operate to manage their time in the virtual world but has been replaced with a  generic virtual gadget.

Here’s what I learned: Read more…

Homage? Inspiration? Or a case of Grand Theft ‘Shadow’?

Before I played Ubisoft Montreal’s magnificent new “Prince of Persia,” I saw that comparisons were being drawn between it and Sony’s cult favorite PS2 game “Ico.” Both games are platformers the present a hero who is accompanied and assisted by a lovely woman. In both games, the mechanic of holding hands in fundamental.

But if you thought the “Prince of Persia” team drew a lot of inspiration from “Ico,” then wait until you see how much they drew from the other celebrated game made by Fumito Ueda’s team at Sony, “Shadow of the Colossus.”

Without going into spoilers, let’s look at some striking similarities: Read more…

Yesterday, I wrote about a few icky encounters I had on PlayStation’s Home over the weekend.

But I logged on again last night and had an entirely different experience. And it was even more unexpected than guys proposing marriage… Read more…

In the virtual world of PlayStation Home, I’m the hottest thing around.

Over the weekend, I logged on and created an avatar that sort of looked like me: short black hair, T-shirt, jeans, sneakers. Nothing out of the ordinary — so I thought.

When I finished making my avatar, I headed into Central Plaza where throngs of mostly male avatars were milling around, chatting and dancing. Wanting to bust a move myself, I left my avatar doing “The Robot” and went to the (real-life) kitchen to grab a snack.

But when I returned, I had some unusual encounters… Read more…

We recently showed you what kind of fashions you can spend about $20 on to make your PlayStation Home avatar look just a little more snazzy. For 49 cents, you too can wear a virtual cowboy hat — or at least your Home avatar can.

So is this the future? A world of cheap avatar fashion purchases?

Sony seems to believe in it. Microsoft, I’ve learned, does not.

The day before Home launched I got a (clearly unrelated) briefing from Xbox product manager Aaron Greenberg and I brought up this topic. I asked: When/how/how-often will we see cheap clothing options for our Xbox 360 Avatars available for paid download? Read more…

Like many other PlayStation 3 owners, I finally made it into “Home” this morning.

Home may only be in open beta, but that isn’t stopping Sony from charging users who want to start fitting their virtual apartment and character with more goodies.

We had been told it wouldn’t be that expensive.

There are only a few handful of items available right now. If you were to purchase everything that Sony has made available, it’d only cost you $26.12, with the most expensive item being a $4.99 summer home. Most items are $0.49, however. Will it stay that way?

For a complete list of what’s available to buy in “Home,” keep reading.

Read more…

The years-in-the-making launch of Sony’s virtual space, Home, finally came today.

It’s just an open beta right now, but Home is here. The problem? Despite all the anticipation and chatter, Sony wasn’t ready for the sever overload; I’ve spent the better part of 30 minutes loading and reloading Home in an attempt to log in.

Other reports I’ve read suggest that once you’re in Home you’re in the clear, but getting into Home in the first place remains the number one hurdle.

We’ve contacted Sony to find out when these issues might be cleared up.

Am I the only one who’s been evicted from Home without notice?

Related Posts
Sony Answers Some Key PlayStation Home Questions, Dodges Others
Sony Developer Improves My View Of PS3 ‘Home,’ But There’s A Catch
Impressions Of Sony PS3’s Home Beta

PlayStation 3’s free virtual-world service Home is finally going to be available to all system owners today. To build interest, Sony reps were available to talk to the press about what’s going to be in this Home open beta.

But in the great tradition of hyping an upcoming game-related project — even one just hours away from release — they were vague about some key things and full of teases.

Here’s what I found out about money, rewards, music, cursing and some other key issues surrounding Home: Read more…

I just got some information from Sony about upcoming PlayStation 3 game “Flower.” Included in that announcement is the official genre for the game:

“Zen gaming”

It’s not being called a flight game. It’s not labeled a nature game. It’s zen gaming. You play by tilting and turning your PS3 controller, flying a growing collection of flower petals across landscapes, making flowers bloom as you touch them. The game is set for an early 2009 release.

I’ve got nothing more to add except a suggestion that… we need more “zen gaming.” Agree?

For $10 you can now download and play a new level of “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.”

I downloaded the level on Friday and played it on Saturday. What kind of experience did I get for my 10 bucks?

The new level took me about 70 minutes to complete. Read more…