It appears this week is filled to the rafters with various announcements. Either the gaming world is feeling quite generous or they’re just off on their jollies next week, so they’re just getting everything out in the open before they start packing. Either way the gaming news just keeps on flowing.
On Monday, Rocksteady posted the Riddler Reveal trailer along with the promise of more Batman Arkham City reveals on the lead up to the games release in October. Not to be out done the folks over at THQ announced the absolutely crazy looking Saints Row The Third pre-order bonus – “Professor Genki’s Hyper Ordinary Pre-order Pack” which includes Professor Genki’s Super Ballistic Man-a-pult, Professor Genki’s “Octopuss” Weapon and Professor Genki’s Leisure Stunt Suit. A Platinum Collectors Edition was also revealed, which as well as featuring the Prof’s generously crazy pre-order pack, also comes with a pair of Saints Row branded headphones and the soundtrack, no word on a UK release for the Platinum Edition as of yet.
Late Tuesday evening, word hit the web that PopCap games, best known for mobile smash hit Plants Vs Zombies, have been snapped up by EA for a reported $750m. EA really seem set on targeting every single social/casual game studio going at the minute. PopCap is a welcomed addition, but it’s rapidly becoming apparent that EA’s focus is no longer home consoles such as the PlayStation 3, which is a shame as their recent output has been quite impressive.
Tuesday also saw Future Publishing and SCEE close down FirstPlay. The weekly digital ‘magazine’ published it’s last episode last week. Sony have said it will be replaced with a free to access, weekly ‘show’ that will closely align itself with SCEE community program PlayStation Access. So expect more behind the scenes stuff, developer interviews and other such goodies that will cover everything from games to movies. It’s not known if the new show will follow Qore’s route to market,which allows people to buy single ‘issues’ or subscribe, just like you could with FirstPlay as well as being included (at no extra charge) with the US PlayStation Plus package.
Looking ahead to the rest of the week, Sony may or may not be announcing something new this Friday via GameTrailers TV. Their program schedule lists ‘Sony Surprise’ as the episode title, last time an episode was called that, was when Starhawks was shown just before E3. So the internet is ablaze with speculation as to what it may be. Whether or now the announcement will be as exciting as the Hooters 2011 International Swimsuit Pageant remains to be seen.
Also this week, it’s expected the awesome folks over at Insert Coin Tees may be ready to show off their official Assassin’s Creed designs. If you haven’t checked out their gaming-inspired clothing yet, it’s well worth checking out. Although not exclusively Sony-related, they do have their fair share of PlayStation-inspired tees and hoodies including Uncharted, Killzone and Shadow of the Colossus designs. We’re also supporting the campaign to get Insert Coin Tees designs into PlayStation Home. Lockwood Publishing have expressed interest on Twitter so if we show them there is a demand, maybe they’ll cave in. If you’re on the old Twitter, show you’re support by tweeting the following:
“I’d love to see @InsertCoinTees in PS Home, make it so @Lockwood_Ltd http://t.co/OfrmoW7 #InsertCoinForPSHome“
Finally we here at PlayStationer.net don’t want to be left out. Fingers crossed, we may haVe a speCial annOuNcement of our own later this week, make sure you’re following us on Twitter for all the latest.