General gaming

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• Penny Arcade Strip Inspires an Animated Movie
• PSP Games Get Dual Analog Control on NGP
• EA Launching New Online Service to Connect Games (And Sell Them)
• The Sony NGP Games Rundown
• New Contra Game Teased by Konami
• Silent Hill Gets in on the HD Collection Action
• Kojima Productions Shows Off its New Game Engine
• Zone of the Enders Goes High-Def with an HD Collection
• PS3/PSP Connectivity for Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
• Sony Pictures Hacked, Users' Personal Data Compromised

Penny Arcade Strip Inspires an Animated Movie Posted: 02 Jun 2011 09:02 PM PDT Penny Arcade began as a comic but has expanded into many different areas -- there are the videogames, the charity, the merchandise, and the conventions. You can now add "the film" to that list. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Paramount is producing an animated movie based on Penny Arcade's "The New Kid" comic strip. The comic was published this past October and focuses on a young boy who is constantly switching schools because his father's job takes him to different planets. Gary Whitta, the former editor-in-chief of PC Gamer magazine and writer of The Book of Eli and a number of games (including Gears of War), will write the movie's script.

PSP Games Get Dual Analog Control on NGP Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:22 PM PDT With an NGP, you'll be able to play every PlayStation Portable game ever released on the PlayStation Network through software emulation. That's nice for anyone who owns any PSP games on PSN as well as those who may have never owned a PSP. Better yet, you'll also find the NGP offers a superior experience for playing PSP games. A Sony embargo ended earlier today, opening the flood gates on a great deal of NGP-related info. (Check out 1UP's rundown for details on some of the early games from first-party developers.) Among the most tantalizing bits is the system's ability to smooth and upscale the graphics of PSP games. This can be turned off if you don't happen to like the job it's doing or want to see the game as it originally looked. Even better than that is added support for the NGP's second analog stick -- third-person shooter Resistance Retribution was shown to the press demonstrating this. Sony Bend originally got around the solo analog stick problem by offering a lock-on system and sticking camera controls on the face buttons. When played on NGP, the right analog stick takes care of the camera, a much more ideal solution than what was possible on PSP.

EA Launching New Online Service to Connect Games (And Sell Them) Posted: 02 Jun 2011 07:33 PM PDT Electronic Arts plans to launch a new online service through which it will both sell digital games and offer a greater level of connectivity between its titles. EA is calling Origin, as it's known, a cornerstone of its business. Officially launching tomorrow, the Wall Street Journal has some early details on what it's all about. The image above makes it simply look like a renamed EA Store, which already sells digital titles through EA's website. It's apparently much more than that, with the WSJ saying it will have an iTunes-like application that allows users to download PC games, of which there will be 150 available at launch. It'll be home to a variety of social networking features, though none of them sound particularly unique. You'll be able to send messages to friends "on a variety of devices," which were not specified; set up a profile to track your progress in EA games; and befriend other users on the service. There will also be a way to "brag" to friends in a way that's compared to FarmVille's old notification system on Facebook. Users won't be required to buy games through Origin in order to actually take advantage of any of this -- a smart move if EA is serious about getting users to begin using Origin's social components.

The Sony NGP Games Rundown Posted: 02 Jun 2011 07:05 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet The Sony NGP Games Rundown Our hands-on report on the initial slate of Sony CEA first-party games for the NGP. By 1UP Staff June 2, 2011 We've seen and manhandled the Sony NGP before, but we didn't see much in the way of actual games at the time. With E3 around the corner, Sony CEA recently hosted an event for media to check out the first-party lineup for the system. Some of these games are targeted for launch, while others have a more nebulous date. We'll probably see some more titles, from both SCEA and third-party developers at E3 next week, but for now, here's our rundown (with help from our colleagues at IGN) and quick impressions of the NGP lineup to date (contrast that with our own imaginary lineup of what we wanted yesterday): Hustle Kings Imagine the PS3 version of this pool table simulator, but now in portable form. That, and you can use the touch pad (either front or back) to pull back the cue and release. What's probably the most interesting feature is asynchronous play, where you and your NGP-owning can take turns on your own time. As noted by our colleagues at IGN, Hustle Kings lets you take a shot, and then your buddy gets a push notification on his or her NGP indicating that you've taken your turn. Then s/he goes, and you get a little notification (we're assuming this works best with the 3G-enabled NGP), and so on. Besides that, Hustle Kings also supports NGP and PS3 versions playing together -- in case both of you are in the same place, and one player wants to sit on the couch with a DualShock3 and the other wants to sit on that same couch with an NGP. We're hoping that the push-notification/asynchronous multiplayer makes its way to other NGP titles. Little Deviants When a system boasts multiple hardware features like a gyroscope, multitouch pad, cameras, and the like, then you should expect at least one launch game to be little more than a tech demo for said features. Little Deviants seems to be the closest to said title, as it's a collection of 30 minigames -- each featuring one-to-three uses of the NGP's hardware features. We've previously touched upon how one of the minigames involves manipulating terrain via the back touchscreen, and played a few more in that vein. There's a version of Whack-A-Mole that uses both the front and back touchscreen -- you simply need to tap the face of the critter you're smacking, and some of them face away from you. Or one where you're falling down a crazy cavern (think Mega Man), and use the sixaxis to tilt the level around your falling deviant. The most complicated minigame involved an Augmented-Reality shooter, where you move the system around to find critters to blast at on-screen (similar to Face Raiders for the Nintendo 3DS) -- with the added element of using the touchscreen to wipe goop away from your viewscreen. We'll see if any of the games become more than gimmicks as we get closer to launch. Reality Fighter Our first impression of this little fighting game is "Photo Dojo HD." While that DSi game converts players into little sprites for a simple and free/low-cost fighting game, Reality Fighter uses Augmented Reality to generate characters and backdrops for your bouts. After capturing your face, you can then outfit your character with goofy accessories before choosing a fighting style. Like Photo Dojo, the actual gameplay is pretty straightforward: hit buttons until someone else falls. The producer on-hand that was demoing the title remarked that the team aims to have about as much depth to the fighting mechanics as Street Fighter, but that wasn't evident in our short playsession. The use of Augmented Reality stood out most -- when it worked. Having fighters on a glass table seemed to confuse the game a bit, as it had a hard time figuring out the difference between table and ground, and the characters would bounce around as a result. Somewhat like Little Deviants, this seemed to be more tech gimmick showcase rather than actual game.

New Contra Game Teased by Konami Posted: 02 Jun 2011 06:16 PM PDT A new Contra game was teased at Konami's pre-E3 event today. However, virtually nothing is known about it at this point -- except that we have heard that Konami aims to do with Contra what they did with Castlevania last year in Lords of Shadow (in other words, make it a full-on, big budget 3D game). The reveal came at the end of the show -- a trailer with flames shot around a black background for a few seconds before they came together to form the Contra "C."

Silent Hill Gets in on the HD Collection Action Posted: 02 Jun 2011 06:11 PM PDT Alongside the Metal Gear Solid and Zone of the Enders HD Collections announced during Konami's pre-E3 show today was word that two Silent Hill games will also be getting the HD treatment. Strangely, as was the case with MGS, the first game won't be included -- the Silent Hill HD Collection will include only Silent Hill 2 and 3 (pictured above). Both games will be released in HD, although which systems they'll be available on wasn't mentioned, nor was a release date. Like the other two collections, the safe bet seems to be that it'll come to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but we'll have to wait for official word from Konami on that.

Kojima Productions Shows Off its New Game Engine Posted: 02 Jun 2011 05:13 PM PDT Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima recently said on Twitter that he would not be attending E3 this year. Instead, he sat down for a video interview with former 1UP editor and current 8-4 employee Mark MacDonald for a chat. That video was released today as a part of Konami's pre-E3 event today. The subject of Metal Gear Solid: Rising was covered briefly. There won't be any big announcements regarding it at E3 this year and it's still on track for release in 2012. The game has had a prominent showing for the past two years at E3.

Zone of the Enders Goes High-Def with an HD Collection Posted: 02 Jun 2011 05:11 PM PDT After years of fans clamoring for a new game, Konami today announced that it would be bringing the first two Zone of the Enders titles to both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with Zone of the Enders HD Collection. The title was announced at Konami's pre-E3 show today. It will be in 1080p and, in order to fit the new resolution, the games' 2D assets are being redone. And, of course, the requisite addition of Achievements and Trophies will be included in either version of the collection. One other noteworthy new feature is it being "transfarring enabled." Transfarring is Kojima Production's new PS3/PSP save game connectivity feature which will also be seen in the Metal Gear HD Collection. We're unsure about the exact details of what this entails; it's possibly PSP- or NGP-related.

PS3/PSP Connectivity for Metal Gear Solid HD Collection Posted: 02 Jun 2011 05:10 PM PDT Konami and Kojima productions are bringing Metal Gear Solid 2, 3, and Peace Walker to the PS3 and 360 in an all new compilation titled, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. All three games will be playable in 1080p, many of the 2D assets in the game are also being reworked to match the new resolution. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker will be the first game to feature PS3/PSP save game interoperability, a feature that Kojima calls "Transfarring." Once a player transfers a save to their PSP or PS3, the save is locked in order to prevent accidentally overwriting progress or version conflicts -- so you'll only be able to play on one device at a time. If you want to change devices you have to hook your PSP to your PS3 again and transfer your save. 360 owners won't be able to take advantage of "Transfarring," but they'll still get all three games in HD, along with the improvements and achievements present in the PS3 version. Peace Walker's controls will be redone in order to take advantage of the dual-stick configuration on both systems. The multiplayer options in Metal Gear Solid 3 or Peace Walker were not discussed in the show. The collection is set for release on both platforms this November.

Sony Pictures Hacked, Users' Personal Data Compromised Posted: 02 Jun 2011 03:49 PM PDT Almost like clockwork, another attack on Sony has taken place. Following up on its threat from late last month, hacker group LulzSec has once again hacked Sony, and this time the damage could be more serious than its previous attack on Sony BMG. In a press release, the group claims it broke into SonyPictures.com and, among other things, compromised the personal data of more than one million users', including home addresses, e-mail addresses, passwords, and more. The group has not taken responsibility for the attack on the PlayStation Network in April. The exact target of its recent threat was unclear, although it has since stated on its Twitter account several times that it wasn't going after gaming services. The group recently made headlines by hacking PBS and posting a spurious story about rapper Tupac Shakur being found alive. LulzSec says it did not steal all of the personal information hosted on Sony Pictures' website due to a lack of resources. Regardless, that's not a very reassuring statement, and it's incredibly alarming that Sony continues to be targeted by hackers with repeated success. In this case, a SQL injection -- a very simple type of attack -- was successfully used to gain access to "everything." Worse yet, users' passwords were allegedly stored in plaintext, meaning they were not encrypted as one would expect them to be.

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