Playstation Network Wrap-Up for January 14th, 2010

It’s strange that for someone that just bought a PS3 a few weeks ago, most of my gaming this past week – with the exception of trying the Matt Hazard demo – was based around two PSOne games: Suikoden, and Suikoden II. For the most part, my $350, 250GB monolith has served as an expensive replacement for a fifteen year old system. No matter how new the technology gets, and how nice the graphics become, I still find myself going back to games from when I was a teenager, not so much because of nostalgia, but because the games are damned good.

With that said, it’s no surprise that the release that’s going to catch the eyes of a lot of people – most notably myself and my fiancée – is the demo of one of the greatest RPGs of all time, in what is otherwise a light week.

The demo for Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, the latest iteration of the first Lunar. From the looks of the translation and screenshots, it appears to more closely ape the Playstation version of the game than the Sega CD version, meaning it’s going to be the more user-friendly version. XSEED is promising an expanded story as well as some other perks, including – you guessed it – a version of the game with extra perks like a soundtrack CD, so old-timers as well as new fans will be very interested. I can’t really say for sure how the demo is, as I’m learning the horrors of trying to remotely update a PSP in a house that doesn’t have Wi-Fi, but thankfully, Alex Lucard has put up his own impressions of the demo. As far as the game is concerned, it releases February 23rd, and it is guaranteed to be well reviewed, with Mark B. and possibly Aileen Coe taking their turns on it.

Also released in demo form is Uno, which unanimously wins the “Too Little, Too Late”. Let me get this straight: the XBox 360 released their version of Uno for $5 on September 5, 2006, and it became the most popular multiplayer game on the entire service, to the point where it’s still immensely popular over three years later. So Sony decides to release their own version of the game on September 30th – over a three year gap – and determined that their version was so awesome that they could charge $5 more for it (the price has since went “down” to $7.99 – down $2 – which amuses me because it’s still more expensive than the 360 version). Now, on January 14th, 2010, they’re releasing a DEMO of their three month old game, which is really the exact same game as the three year old XBox 360 version, except it costs $3 more, has fewer people online to play against, and has a crummy avatar feature that steals so badly from Nintendo’s Miis that they could be liable.

Oh, Sony. You cheeky bastards.

A full PSP game was released, Luxor: The Wrath of Set. It goes for $10, which is a little hard to justify for a game that can be played for free over the internet, and can be found cheaper elsewhere. Of better news to most will be the fact that Steamboat Chronicles: Battle Tournament had it’s price slashed in half, from $30 to $15. D.J. Tatsujin reviewed it positively when it was new, so the price drop should be good news for action RPG fans.

Also released is an add-on for the game Magic Ba– wait, it’s not “Magic Ball” now? It’s Magic Orbz? Why yes, that makes all the difference in the world! Before, I thought Magic Ball was JABC (Just Another Breakout Clone), but now, it’s JABC… but with ATTITUDE!

Seriously, who the hell is making these calls?

Regardless, there’s new DLC this week called the Winter Pack for $3, and they’ve also bundled together their previous DLC with the Winter Pack for $14. There is also a new table for ZEN Pinball for $2.50, this time with a Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma theme. Finally, for fans of the PSP Gran Turismo game, there is a free car pack available, which adds to the playability of a title that I wasn’t very high on.

A new Playstation mini is available called Dynogems. I can hear someone in a board room pitching it now: “OK, take Dynomite, and add in Puyo Puyo. Bang! We have Dynogems!” While it’s not exactly inspired, for $3, you can certainly do worse in terms of killing time, though it should be noted – as is usual for minis – that the iPhone version is cheaper.

Finally, there is no Qore episode this week, but I do want to thank a few readers for pointing out to me exactly what it is; it’s previews, as well as beta access and premium themes to go along with it. I’m still not sure it’s worth money, but at least I can say now that people aren’t retarded for buying it. Again, a thank-you to our readers for their feedback. Also, while I will be updating this list with comic updates – I love the idea of an online comic reader, even if I’m not a fan of the DRM that comes with the package – I won’t be updating with movie and TV show updates from this point forward. This is not only because of the timeliness – a day later – of the movie updates, but also because we’re Diehard GameFAN. Anyone that wants to talk about movies is recommended to check out our movie section. As always, anyone with feedback for our fledgling column, please let us know what you think.

Until next week, this is Christopher Bowen, who I swear is about to throw his $&@#ing PSP against the $&@#ing wall over this $&@#ing firmware update…

The full list of updates is below:

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Price Updates
Steambot Chronicles Permanent Price Drop (now $14.99, original price $29.99)

Playstation Store for PS3

Game Demos (free)
UNO Demo
ESRB Rated E
File size: 258 MB

Bundles

Magic Orbz Bundle Pack ($13.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 155.2 MB

Add-on Game Content

Magic Orbz Winter Pack ($2.99)
File size: 100 KB

ZEN Pinball Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Table ($2.49)
File size: 54 MB

Guitar Hero 5
For all song credits please visit www.guitarhero.com.

* Cousins by Vampire Weekend ($1.99)
* Holiday by Vampire Weekend ($1.99)
* The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance by Vampire Weekend ($1.99)
# Vampire Weekend Track Pack ($5.49) – Downloadable Track Pack featuring “Holiday”, “Cousins”, and “The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance” by Vampire Weekend. Please Note: Many songs are available both as singles and as part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading.

File sizes: 24 MB – 38 MB (singles), 85 MB (track pack)

Rock Band

Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

* Grind”” Alice In Chains ($1.99)
* Heaven Beside You”” Alice In Chains ($1.99)
* Last of My Kind”” Alice In Chains ($1.99)
* We Die Young”” Alice In Chains ($1.99)
* Your Decision”” Alice In Chains ($1.99)
# Alice In Chains Pack 2 ($8.49) – Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game track pack: Alice In Chains Pack 02. This pack includes: Grind, Heaven Beside You, Last of My Kind, We Die Young and Your Decision by Alice In Chains

File sizes: 23 MB – 45 MB (singles), 172 MB (track pack)

Game Videos (free)

White Knight Chronicles International Edition Combat Trailer
File size: 127 MB (HD) 215 MB (1080)

2009 Gran Turismo Awards
File size: 183 MB (HD)

Star Ocean: The Last Hope International Debut Trailer
File size: 121 MB (HD)

SOCOM US Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 Dev Diary #2
File size: 101 MB (HD)

2009 Virgin Mobile FreeFest Videos (x5) (US only)
File sizes: 202 MB – 232 MB (SD)

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games (also available from PS3 storefront)

Luxor: The Wrath of Set ($9.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 24 MB

PSP minis

Dynogems ($2.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 16 MB
PSP Demos (free)

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony Demo
ESRB Rated T
File size: 210 MB

Add-on Game Content (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Gran Turismo PSP Car Pack (free)
File size: 1.02 MB

PSP Themes (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Savage Moon: The Hera Campaign Big Guns PSP Theme (free)
File size: 554 KB

Savage Moon: The Hera Campaign Red Planet PSP Theme (free)
File size: 504 KB

Savage Moon: The Hera Campaign Tower PSP Theme (free)
File size: 445 KB

EDIT: I’m so brilliant, I forgot all about the comic update. Yay me!

Comics Update

* 2000AD Prog # 1662 – $1.99
* Army of Two # 1 – $1.99
* Blade (2006) # 1 – $1.99
* Blade (2006) # 2 – $1.99
* Blade (2006) # 3 – $1.99
* Blade (2006) # 4 – $1.99
* Blade (2006) # 5 – $1.99
* Blade (2006) # 6 – $1.99
* Daredevil (1998) # 87 – $1.99
* Daredevil (1998) # 88 – $1.99
* Daredevil (1998) # 89 – $1.99
* Donald Duck and Daisy Duck in: “Donald and Duckolde” # 1 – $0.99
* Donald Duck and the Cathode Champion # 1 – $0.99
* G.I. Joe: Cobra # 3 – $0.99
* G.I. Joe Origins # 4 – $0.99
* Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft # 3 – $0.99
* Mickey Mouse and the Portable Tele-Transporter # 1 – $0.99
* Superduck: Days of Future Past # 4 – $1.99
* The Avengers (1998) # 68 – $1.99
* The Avengers (1998) # 69 – $1.99
* The Avengers (1998) # 70 – $1.99
* The Avengers (1998) # 71 – $1.99
* The Avengers (1998) # 72 – $1.99
* The Avengers (1998) # 73 – $1.99
* The Avengers (1998) # 74 – $1.99
* The Avengers (1998) # 75 – $1.99
* The Avengers (1998) # 76 – $1.99
* The Incredible Hulk (1962) # 1 – $1.99
* The Incredible Hulk (1962) # 2 – $1.99
* The Incredible Hulk (1962) # 3 – $1.99
* The Incredible Hulk (1962) # 4 – $1.99
* The Incredible Hulk (1962) # 5 – $1.99
* The Incredible Hulk (1962) # 6 – $1.99
* Uncanny X-Men (2003) # 462 – $1.99
* Uncanny X-Men (2003) # 463 – $1.99
* Uncanny X-Men (2003) # 464 – $1.99
* Uncanny X-Men (2003) # 465 – $1.99
* Uncanny X-Men (2003) # 466 – $1.99
* Uncanny X-Men (2003) # 467 – $1.99
* Uncanny X-Men (2003) # 468 – $1.99
* Uncanny X-Men (2003) # 469 – $1.99
* Uncanny X-Men (2003) # 470 – $1.99
* Uncanny X-Men (2003) # 471 – $1.99
* Uncanny X-Men (2003) # 472 – $1.99
* Uncanny X-Men (2003) # 473 – $1.99
* Wizards of Mickey: The Dolmen Swamp # 1 – $0.99
* Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse: The Taster # 0 – $0.99
* Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse: It Only Hurts When I Pee # 6 – $0.99