Say hello to the games set to lead the handheld gaming revolution, and choose the right ones for you.

PlayStation Vita hits European shores in a matter of weeks, and like the very best guests at any party, it’ll arrive with a mixture of familiar faces and some you’ll instantly want to get to know better.  

Ahead of its launch on 22 February 2012, here’s your essential guide to the Sony Computer Entertainment Europe-published games that will line up alongside PS Vita. 

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

What is it? The unmissable blockbuster in the palm of your hand. Join Nathan Drake on a deadly voyage to Central America, as he bids to reveal the fate of a Spanish expedition that disappeared 400 years previously.

Why it’ll shine: The unique controls and crystal clear OLED screen of PS Vita help you dive right into treacherous jungles and ruins alongside the famed fortune hunter. Use the rear camera to uncover ancient riddles, and the touchscreen and rear touch pad to jump, swing and cheat death.

Play it if you like: Turning your journey to work or school into a daring, danger-soaked epic.

WipEout 2048

What is it? The ultimate adrenaline rush, wherever you are.

Why it’ll shine: Touch and tilt controls give you unrivalled control over futuristic anti-grav ships, perfect for taking on PlayStation 3 WipEout racers via cross-platform play.

Play it if you like: Futuristic racing set to pumping beats – both electronic and cardiovascular.

Reality Fighters

What is it? The all-out fighting game that turns the environment around you into a seething battle arena.

Why it’ll shine: Augmented reality technology means you can pick any real location, create a brawler and then battle it out against a friend to take control of their own fighter. Build up an army of downright unhinged characters and rule your own streets. 

Play it if you like: Creating and sharing unforgettable combatants and fighting styles – and then dealing out knuckled justice wherever you choose.

ModNation Racers: Road Trip

What is it? Fun-fuelled racing that’s impossible to put the brakes on.

Why it’ll shine: As well as jostling among high-powered racing karts, you’ll be able to design your own ingenious tracks with a few swishes of your finger. The rear touch pad also lets you manipulate terrain to create plunging straights and swooping bends.

Play it if you like: Racing powered as much by creativity as speed.

Little Deviants

What is it? A gaggle of crazy mini-games which will help you save the Little Deviants from the evil Botz.

Why it’ll shine: If the alien world of Whoman looks strangely familiar, that’s because the rear camera of PS Vita lets you play among your own, real-world surroundings.

Play it if you like: Fiendish challenges that get even better the more you play, thanks to special gifts via the Near location service and challenges against friends.

Unit 13

What is it? Your call-up papers to join the toughest military unit on the planet.

Why it’ll shine: It’s the first shooter on PS Vita to use the system’s dual analog sticks. It’s just as well, since missions and war zones inspired by real-life headlines demand precision under extreme pressure.

Play it if you like: Thinking on your feet and adapting to ever changing objectives and threats.

Escape Plan

What is it? A surreal tale of survival that’ll test your mental dexterity.

Why it’ll shine: Hapless heroes Lil and Laarg are instantly loveable, and you’ll want to guide them through a labyrinth of deadly puzzles to save them from a messy end. The rear touch pad lets you dodge booby traps, solve brain-teasers and move objects around.

Play it if you like: Offbeat treats for your mind, stuffed with cartoon charm and thoughtful problem solving.

Everybody’s Golf

What is it? Intuitive, vibrant golfing action on some of the most colourful yet challenging courses ever devised.

Why it’ll shine: Outrageous holes-in-one, breathtaking birdies and extravagant eagles become par for the course courtesy of a dynamic new shot system and pinpoint touchscreen controls.

Play it if you like: Surging to the fore of massive 30-player tournaments via PlayStation Network.

MotorStorm RC

What is it? Off-road racing on a whole new scale.

Why it’ll shine: You’ll battle it out in extreme racing environments, using fast and agile radio-controlled vehicles. Even better, you can duke it out against PS3 gamers using cross-platform play, giving you more chances to settle rivalries against players from around the globe.

Play it if you like: Riotous, arcade-style racing that’s at home on both PS Vita and PS3.

Hustle Kings

What is it? Your shot at pool hall fame, wherever you are.

Why it’ll shine: Touchscreen and rear touch pad controls give your shots laser-focused precision. Top spin, swerve and perfectly weighted shots are simple to achieve with your fingertips, coming in handy when you challenge rivals over PlayStation Network.

Play it if you like: Working the angles to sink impossible shots with real style.

Top Darts

What is it? The dartboard you can take with you wherever you go.

Why it’ll shine: With nine classic darts games, a selection of traditional and bizarre dartboard designs and the ability to challenge up to seven players to take part in turn-based matches, the only things missing are chunky gold jewellery and an outsized nylon shirt.

Play it if you like: Stepping up to the oche and throwing arrows with confidence.

Keep an eye on PlayStation.Blog at blog.eu.playstation.com and eu.playstation.com ahead of the system’s launch in February 2012 for the latest information on PS Vita.

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Stories stating the first wave of PS Vitas are beset by malfunctions are erroneous, says Japanese electronics giant

Sony is fuming after a number of stories appeared online stating that the first PS Vitas sold in Japan have been beset by widespread glitches, allegedly including problems powering the handheld console up and down and frozen touchscreens.

While it acknowledges that a few new PS Vita owners may have experienced isolated malfunctions, it is adamant that users are experiencing no more problems than would be expected given that 325,000 units of the handheld console were sold during its launch weekend in Japan.

David Wilson, head of UK PR at Sony Computer Entertainment, said: “The PS Vita has had a terrific launch and sold in large numbers. We’re annoyed with these stories, because we can’t find any evidence of widespread glitches.

“The stories even said that Sony has issued an apology for PS Vita glitches, which simply isn’t true – there’s an apology on our Japanese website for people who are having trouble getting through to our technical help line, but that’s it.

“And there’s a page showing standard procedures for powering the PS Vita on and off, which has been on our site since before the launch, which has been presented in some news stories as a means of solving the alleged glitches.”

Sony appears to have been a victim of internet Chinese whispers, combined with an element of its Japanese website getting lost in translation.

It has issued a firmware update, but that is only to be expected with a new and complex handheld console such as the PS Vita. There is also a YouTube video showing a PS Vita with a frozen screen, which has been replicated in various places on the web, but that hardly constitutes a welter of malfunctions.

One wonders whether the Sony-haters who hacked the PlayStation Network earlier in the year and aimed a barrage of bile at the company (including threats to senior executives) are up to their old tricks again.

Despite the negative reports, the PS Vita’s future would still appear to be bright: the 325,000 units sold in its opening weekend represents a solid if unspectacular start.

Nintendo’s 3DS handheld sold 371,000 units in its opening weekend, but sales subsequently tailed off swiftly, which was attributed to a lack of compelling games.

The PS Vita, by contrast, launched in Japan with a healthy portfolio of 24 games, and Sony has announced that 33 games will be available for the UK launch on 22 February.

And even if it does turn out that a significant number of the first PS Vitas sold in Japan were faulty, Sony has plenty of time to iron out teething problems before the unit goes on sale in the UK.

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Acclaimed developer Naughty Dog brings a brand new title to PlayStation 3.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is happy to reveal that The Last of Us is being developed by Naughty Dog Inc., creators of such acclaimed game series as Uncharted, Jak and Daxter and Crash Bandicoot.

The Last of Us is a genre-defining experience that blends survival and action elements to tell a character driven story about a population decimated by a modern plague. Abandoned cities are being reclaimed by nature and the remaining survivors are killing each other for food, weapons and whatever they can get their hands on. Joel, a ruthless survivor, and Ellie, a brave, young teenage girl who is wise beyond her years, must work together to survive their journey across what remains of the United States.

“We are excited to finally unveil The Last of Us, a project the team has been working hard on for some time,” said Evan Wells, co president of Naughty Dog Inc. “Naughty Dog’s mission is to change the way people experience videogames. We are confident The Last of Us will take a leap forward in cinematic gaming and storytelling, providing gamers with an experience unlike anything else in the industry.”

Keep an eye on PlayStation.Blog at blog.eu.playstation.com and eu.playstation.com for more news on The Last of Us as and when it becomes available.

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Sony Computer Entertainment Europe brought the big guns of entertainment to gamescom 2011 for PS3 and PS Vita.

In its media briefing on 16 August 2011, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe unleashed a world of innovation and entertainment at the lavish Gurzenich Köln, in the centre of Cologne, Germany.

Kicked off by a dynamic video showing off the exciting titles such as Batman: Arkham City, Resistance 3 and Journey, SCEE president Andrew House took to the stage to start our discovery on the now, the new and the next of PlayStation.

“Today PlayStation is stronger than ever, as an innovator and entertainment provider,” stated House. The PlayStation family is growing stronger thanks to the arrival of PlayStation Vita in 2012 and this innovative journey is only going to become even better.

With House soon to become President and Group CEO Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., it was appropriate that he handed over to the next president and chief executive officer of SCEE, Jim Ryan. And with all eyes on PS Vita, Ryan promised the constantly evolving system would deliver extraordinary gaming experiences thanks to its amazing array of features.

“PlayStation is about games and PS Vita is a state of the art portable device with games at its heart,” smiled the next president and chief executive officer of SCEE. The awaiting audience showed visible excitement as a demonstration of first person shooter Resistance: Burning Skies displayed the benefits of having dual analog sticks, with touch controls to use certain weapons. It’s a true portable shooter, with no compromises.

A presentation of creative platformer LittleBigPlanet on PS Vita also drew appreciation from the attendees thanks to its showcase of how easy it is to build levels and creatures in the game using the system’s front and rear camera to capture images of the world around us.

Sticking with the use of such brilliant features, beat ‘em up Reality Fighters demonstrated the PS Vita cameras in an hilariously different way – by capturing the images of both House and Ryan to have them duke it out to the backdrop of a fighting arena. The hammer wielding House took the Reality Fighters title, and the game proved another hit ready to step into the ring of gaming experiences found on PS Vita.

Surprising the showgoers was the unveiling of Escape Plan, a rather different type of PS Vita game. Controlling Laarg and Lil, Escape Plan challenges you to help this hapless duo find their way out of a fortress of deathtraps. Darkly humorous, Escape Plan was greeted with a very positive response by the gathered journalists seeing it for the first time.

Third party support for PS Vita wasn’t slacking either, with a large selection of titles in the pipeline, including a colossal six games to come from Ubisoft, such as a new Assassin’s Creed with a fresh storyline and characters.

Even with PS Vita shining, PSP wasn’t left out of the spotlight. Over 71 million units have found their way into homes worldwide, and Ryan revealed a new model, the PSP E-1000, to introduce even more people to its pocket sized delights. At a wallet friendly 99 euros and backed by the budget PSP Essentials range, this announcement gathered one of the biggest gasps and cheers from the audience. As Ryan said: “Portable gaming has never been so accessible – and our commitment to the handheld market has never been stronger.”

PlayStation 3 grabbed a piece of the action as well, with the PlayStation Move motion controller going from strength to strength. Over 8.8 millions units of PS Move have been sold worldwide, and that’s only set to continue as games such as EA SPORTS FIFA 13, Resistance 3 and the LittleBigPlanet 2 Move pack engage players everywhere.

A surprise for PS Move fans was also in store with the announcement of Move Fitness, offering exercise and fun personal training with the motion controller, and DanceStar Party, an arrival accompanied by British dance group Diversity. The dynamic crew tore up the stage with a fresh set that started with PS Move motion controllers in-hand before launching into an explosive routine.

With the breathless display of dancing over, it was left to Ryan to stun us with a few last announcements. Downloadable from PlayStation Store in late 2011, inFamous 2: Festival of Blood on PS3 brings you back to the tragic city of New Marais where vampires have taken over. The superpowered Cole McGrath only has one day to save his people and himself from the deadly vampires’ bite.

With all this great value excitement, it was fitting that Andrew House closed off the conference with the announcement that PS3 would receive a price drop to 249 euros. “The best quality entertainment experience, and an accessible price,” stated House – and it seemed after a staggering show of great entertainment, no one at the conference would fail to agree.

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The second part of our chat with the chair and deputy chair of Bafta’s video game committee. Today: is the industry being creative enough?

Yesterday, we talked to Bafta video game committee members Ray Maguire, head of Sony Computer Entertainment UK, and Ian Livingstone, life president of Square Enix, about the state of the games business, the polarisation of the industry and the lack of media attention for interactive entertainment.

Today, a day before the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards, we look at innovation, education and the fragile future of the sector… Where are the interesting things happening in the games industry at the moment? What are the emerging trends? Ian Livingstone: From a purely industry point of view, rather than my personal position, all the excitement seems to be happening in the online space. With the wide penetration of broadband, there’s never been a better time for content creators to reach a large audience. There’s been a major growth in the number of small development teams and with that comes huge creativity, because they don’t have to go through a process – via publishers, via retailers, via people who don’t know as much about games as they do – to get to the public. They can serve the content they want to create, to consumers who are interested. The fact that Minecraft won a lot of rewards at GDC shows what one person can do – it’s a very innovative title and he sold a million copies at ten dollars a piece. Through traditional channels, that wouldn’t have happened. We’re going to see a lot more of that. Even if these people only sell one copy, they have the pride and desire to carry on. There’s never been a better time for creativity to flourish.

RM: At the other end of that spectrum for me, it’s what happens with 3D. We’re seeing 3D as a staple part of the cinema experience now and that will transfer into the home – as it’s already started to do. It’s estimated that by 2014, 40% of homes in the UK will have a 3D-capable device, whether that’s a laptop, a TV or something else. Soon, when people begin to replace their flatscreen televisions, they will probably buy one that just happens to have 3D capabilities built in. That opens up an environment for content providers to invest more money into 3D material. Sony has a lot more games coming in 3D this year, and it does enrich the experience. It’ll be a reasonably long haul to get there, but I think it could become the norm.

Will Sony be looking to encourage indie developers to explore technologies like 3D and Move?RM: There are two ways we interface with people who want to develop. One is through the licensed partnership agreement – via this, we have support systems to impart knowledge and ensure third-parties can create the best content possible. The other side is more of a homebrew-type situation with the PlayStation Minis programme. These are very low budget products by design. It’s an area I’m sure we’re going to develop and make it easier for people to take part. One area that really interests us is tied in with Ian’s report – we need to get people creating something of value, especially at university, and we should give them the ability to publish what they’re doing. That’s something we’re looking into at the moment.

But the process can start with standard retail games that include creation elements. We’re looking at LittleBigPlanet 2 at the moment and how we can use that to encourage creativity. It’s basically an editor, you put levels together, write a story… When you look at the creativity coming out of a million consumers, it’s unbelievable – the stuff they’re coming up with is outrageous. It shows that if you give gamers something that’s easy enough to deal with, you’ll get creativity in abundance.

The area we also need to look at is much deeper, hard coding. We have 5000 secondary schools in the UK, if we put computer clubs into all of those, and we had just one child from each school going to university to study games development, then say we only had one out of every ten of those joining the industry, we’d have 500 people joining the workforce every single year. That would be a great achievement. We also need script writers, fantastic fine artists – we’re reliant on all the other arts to be part of the overall production. But maths, physics and coding are fundamental – games can’t exist without them.

Bafta can help us here. It is a charity and education is a huge part of it. It’s important to reach people through the events we put on throughout the year, and we’re looking to put on more. We also video as many as we can – you can see some great footage on the Bafta website. Bafta is a massive brand, it’s got creativity written through its DNA, it also has access to wonderful people who can bring this stuff to life for kids. There’s a great way we can all interact here – it needs some thinking about, it needs some sorting out, but it will develop over time.

The games being nominated for Bafta awards this year are very much core titles – Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty Halo, etc. In five years time, would you like to see a more diverse range of experiences being put forward for consideration?RM: This is very much a question of push and pull in terms of products and customer demand. Heavy Rain has been successful for us, yet when you look at CoD it’s dwarfed in terms of numbers. Consumers are asking for many different genres, and we will supply according to that demand. We’re looking for a point of difference as well, and the creativity of developers will ensure we’re still pushing in to new areas. But that will be down to consumers – if it’s engaging and appealing, then they’ll buy our product, if not, they’ll reject it and we won’t make any more. I think genres will remain pretty similar but there is potential to tell more and better stories. There is more dialogue, more plot development… we try new genres, some stick, some don’t, that’s just the way of the industry.

And as a console manufacturer, how does the constant evolution of technology affect your business? How will you build PlayStation 4 to allow for the creation of new game types?RM: It’s the same conversation as it was for PlayStation 1, 2 and 3. With the amount of money required nowadays to develop and launch a new platform, you have to have a long lifecycle. With PS1, launched in 1995, we ended up with a seven year active lifecycle and a 10 year overall lifecycle. When we set out to invent a new platform, often it’s something we can’t actually make yet, because technology hasn’t got us into a position where we can make silicon that thin, or where we can manage that amount of heat or power.

PlayStation 3 was the classic example – nobody else could create it for us so we had to build a fabrication plant to make it ourselves. And then there’s a learning curve of how to use the technology to get the most out of it – so classically at the launch you’ll get one or two brilliant games then a lot that struggle to use the power because it’s complicated. Right now, we’re seeing a lot of the power of PS3 being used so the games are looking great, and that’s good for third-party publishers as they start to make good money on the big winners.

Where we go after this is an interesting one. The online side is very interesting and is a big part of our business going forward. But in terms of what sort of technology we’ll be using, it’s far too early to say yet because we’re only half way through the lifecycle of PS3 – there are many years to come on that machine.

Is Britain under threat as a game development nation?IL: I hope not, but there are a lot of urgent issues that have to be addressed to boost the industry. Historically, we are brilliant at creating games – after Sir Clive Sinclair put affordable computing into our hands we had Elite, GTA, Tomb Raider… We got off to a great start, but we didn’t invest in that. It’s a typically British story – we come out of the blocks flying, but then everyone else wakes up to what we’re good at an overtakes us. Foreign publishers see more value in the IP we create in the UK than we do ourselves. So many of our studios are foreign-owned now, and a lot of talent has gone abroad to work in Silicon Valley and Montreal. I would hope that in the indie space there’s an opportunity for the rebirth of UK brilliance.

Do you, as a publisher, have a responsibility toward supporting UK development?IL: I don’t think anyone has a responsibility – even though I’d like to personally. You have to go where the skills are high and the costs are low. As an industry, we’ve lobbied hard for tax credits and have been ignored by the government. So you have to compete with Montreal, which offers 37.5% production tax credits. That’s hard cash in your hands, matched with a very skilled labour force. They’re able to effect a brain drain from the UK because they’re offering very good salaries, a great quality of life and great opportunities.

They’ve achieved in ten years what it took the UK 25 years to achieve, because the Canadian government invested in the industry. They spent half a billion Canadian dollars attracting the likes of Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Eidos to set up shop there – but that in turn has let to $1.5bn of inward investment. They’ve created this fantastic ecosystem for video game development, which we have not done in the UK. You need access to production tax credits to create a level playing field and a skilled workforce, and if the UK can’t match Canada it’s no surprise that publishers will place their development studios elsewhere, which is a tragedy given our heritage.

How about at Sony? Are your development studios in the UK still important?RM: Clearly we’re very proud of the products that are coming out of studios in the UK. We face exactly the same issues – we have to look at staffing costs, the projects, the funding. But we have a responsibility to make sure we’re pushing the boundaries, and we need people who are at the top of their game in terms of R&D. At the moment, Britain is a good place to find them. What would happen if we could no longer find that talent in the UK? I don’t know…

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Turn driving dreams into reality thanks to Nissan and PlayStation in the third edition of GT Academy.

Nissan in Europe and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) have joined forces to run a third instalment of the popular GT Academy in 2011. The competition unites the worlds of virtual and real racing, offering one lucky winner the chance to realise their dream of becoming a certified racing driver.

The virtual stage of GT Academy will be played out on the ultra-realistic Gran Turismo 5 on PlayStation 3, which has sold over three million copies to date in Europe since launching in November 2010. The stakes are high with places at the GT Academy Race Camp to play for and a fully supported drive in a Nissan 370Z GT4 car in the prestigious Dubai 24 Hour International race as the ultimate prize (terms and conditions apply).

GT Academy’s global footprint is growing as 2011 marks the third season of GT Academy in Europe, as well as the inaugural year in the USA.

This year’s European competition will run across 10 countries with the online time trials starting on 4 March 2011 and continuing until 17 April 2011. Leaderboards for each participating territory will highlight the fastest 20 racers who will proceed to a live territory final. Only two from each final will make it to the intensive six-day driver training Race Camp to run at the world-famous Silverstone circuit in England. The winner of Race Camp will continue to be trained in high performance Nissan race cars and compete in a series of national level races in order to qualify for an international race licence and an entry into the Dubai race.

Since the first GT Academy in 2008, the innovative competition has established itself as a credible route into top-end motor sport for Gran Turismo players. Lucas Ordoñez, the Spanish winner of the first instalment in 2008, went on to finish second in the 2009 European GT4 Cup and fourth in 2010. Frenchman Jordan Tresson, the winner of 2010′s GT Academy competition, finished equal fourth with Ordoñez in the GT4 series. Both racers are expected to announce new programmes for 2011 soon.

“In Gran Turismo 5 we continue to bring the worlds of real and virtual racing closer together and the GT Academy programme, in partnership with our friends at Nissan, perfectly illustrates this ambition,” explained Kazunori Yamauchi, the creator of the Gran Turismo series and president of developer Polyphony Digital. “GT Academy  is also a great showcase for the fact that GT5 will continue to offer players more than just the game they have bought. It fully utilises the online functionality of GT5 and highlights the community elements. I think that we shall see a lot of friends challenging each other to take part in GT Academy and seeing how good they are against others. I am sure that most people with an interest in motor sport have dreamt about having a go for real. The competition has already made that dream a reality for the previous two winners, so it is well worth entering – even if it is only your friends you want to beat!”

When the virtual racing stage of the game ends, the emphasis will shift to Nissan’s stunning sports cars with the 370Z and GT-R playing starring roles at the Silverstone Race Camp. “It has been a great pleasure for us to see so many of our cars recreated in stunning detail in Gran Turismo 5,” said Nissan International’s Vice President of Marketing, Vincent Wijnen. “But GT Academy is even more special as we watch the incredible progression of somebody racing our cars in the game to enjoying great success racing them at full speed on international race circuits. GT Academy has become a great grass roots mainstay of our international race programme and we enjoy the partnership with PlayStation very much.”

GT Academy in 2010 enjoyed enormous success with 1.2 million gamers taking part. The competition found a very high profile fan in judge, and former Formula One team boss, Eddie Jordan, who commented at the Silverstone event: “This has been extraordinary, I have been absolutely blown away. I could not believe that these gamers, with no experience of racing cars, could do this. They really are great drivers, all of them, and they can be rightly proud of what they have achieved. I know that they have all had an amazing experience that will stay with them forever.”

Residents from 10 European countries, combined into the following six regional groups, are eligible to take part in GT Academy 2011: Germany and Austria; France and Switzerland; UK and Ireland; Spain and Portugal; Italy; and, the Netherlands.

More details of the time trial phase of the European GT Academy will be released shortly, and players can register their interest and keep up to date with the latest developments by signing up to the GT Academy Facebook page at facebook.com/GTAcademy.

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