Today at Leipzig, Sony announced a new 160GB PS3 SKU. Damn! Looks like they’re serious about digital distribution if they’re upping things that much. The “limited edition” bundle will include a copy of Uncharted and a voucher to download PAIN on the PSN. You alse get a DualShock 3 for the cool price of $499.99.
It’s important to note that this new PS3 unit is not backwards compatible, has 2 USB ports, and no media card reader slots. I guess that functionality is now gone.
The new bundle is set to ship in the US in November with an October 31st release date in Europe. Sounds good to me!
I’m a big fan of PAIN on the PS3. There’s something about shooting a guy from a slingshot into buildings, trains, and all sorts of explosives that just makes you laugh. One of the biggest criticisms about the game was it’s one level, Downtown. Sure, they added a few new layouts, but it’s still the same level. This summer, we’ll get the Amusement Park.
Along with the cool new level, the game is getting some new modes and online multiplayer (finally). No exact date or price has been set for the add-on, but I’d expect some details coming in the next few weeks. In the meantime, check out what the new Amusement Park will bring.
Blizzard has announced that the ability to kill other players in game (affectionately known as PK’ing) is a thing of the past. PK’ing will not be part of the Diablo III gameplay and instead is giving way to a full fledged PVP system. PK’ing was a big pain in the @ss in the first two Diablo games as players would kill you and harass you, even in town which was the worst.
Blizzard recognized the nuisance that PK’ing was and has instituted a PVP system similar to its World of Warcraft brother where players can choose to fight against each other to gain honor. There was no honor in PK’ing as the other person could not fight back and would lose their items every time.
Diablo III is already shaping up nicely and it is still only an announcement.
It seems the good folks over at Sony and Idol Minds just can’t release an update to PAIN without something breaking. Last time, the update didn’t come out for 2 days and the game was wonky. This time, network connectivity has been disabled in the game, meaning you can’t access community features or buy new characters in-game. According to developer comments on the official site:
there has been a power outage in Europe that affected the staging of content for our European brothers and sisters. This is being worked on at the moment, and as soon as it is resolved (9-10am London time is the estimate we were given), we will get the update out to Europe.
Now, they’re saying that because the update got borked in Europe, the US gamers who got the update can’t connect online. Yeah, crazy, I know. Since they plan on releasing another update for the game next week (and still more content is coming), I seriously hope this gets resolved ASAP. People can only take so much broken stuff.
I have to say I was a huge fan of PAIN when it was first released on the PSN. The game is innovative and very fun… but there’s not much there to keep you interested for any extended length of time. The development team has heard your cries for more content and they’re bringing some new free stuff today on the PlayStation Store.
Jukebox Play – Now you can play your own tunes inside of PAIN. If you have some time go back to my previous blog posts and you will see where you users took us to task about including this option. So it’s DONE.
New Downtown Layouts – We have new configurations for downtown. Demolition and Block Party. Go to the trophy room after your update and you will see how to unlock these areas. You can also play these areas in HORSE now too.
Multiple Character Selection – Many of our players wanted to play two player games with different characters. So there you go.
Logo Skip – Now you don’t have to wait for the logo sequence to get right to the game.
While new layouts are very cool, I’m still waiting for that Amusement Park environment that’s been hyped up since release. I want to slam my character into some new things. Either way, it’s good to see free updates coming for a solid game.
Our European friends will be blessed with Pain for the PS3 this week in the upcoming PSN update. I have to say, this game made me laugh more than any game in the past few years. Shooting your guy into buildings and dragging around grandma with a walker is just too damn funny.
Word is a few expansion packs will be coming with the launch of Pain in the EU. My guess is these will be the characters we received here in the US. Unless, of course, the new amusement park map is coming out. If that’s the case, we damn well better be seeing that in the US too.
Pain is all about what the title says. Shoot your character from a giant sling-shot into buildings, traffic, and anything else you can think of to rack up points. When I first saw trailers of the game, I thought it would get boring quick. Well, I was definitely wrong. I’ve never had a game make me laugh as hard as this. Here is a breakdown of some of the facets of Pain for the PS3:
Presentation and Graphics: Pain has terrific graphics for a $10 downloadable title. The environment has a huge amount of detail in every element. Since you can hit or break almost anything, the development team at IdolMinds made sure every element looked great. The Havok physics engine makes interacting with the environment a blast. No matter what you hit, grap, or break, it will have ramifications of other parts of the map. 4 of 5
I played Pain on PS3 for a while last night. I was originally on the fence about the game, wondering just how long the fun would last shooting a guy at buildings. Let me tell you, it will last a long time. Pain is terrificly fun and provides more depth than expected.
There are three single player and three multiplayer modes in the game. In single player, you can play Paindemonium mode, which is freestyle mode to see how many points you can rack up and how much pain and damage you can cause. There is also Mime Toss mode, where you have to catch a mime suspended in mid-air and throw him through carefully setup panes of glass. This mode is timed and there are set goals to reach for each medal level. The same is the case with Spank the Monkey, where you have to find and hit a series of monkeys (usually 38 of them) in a set period of time. This can be quite difficult to master, which keeps you coming back for more.
Pain looks like a pretty funny game. Ssending a guy flying through the air to get hurt can only be made better by adding in monkeys with censor bars on their asses. Check and check. If you watch the clip twards the middle the guy hits the building and holds onto the chimps johnson as he drags him to the ground. Good times!
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