echochrome arrives tomorrow!

Post by: Kumi Yuasa on April 30th, 2008 | File Under Uncategorized

Hello PlayStation.blog readers. It’s Kumi! First, I wanted to thank everyone for reading my last post announcing the free demo for echochrome.

So as promised, I am back to tell you just when you can get your hands of the full version. echochrome will be available for you to download this THURSDAY, MAY 1 on the PlayStation Store for the PS3 and via the PC Store for the PSP. Both versions will be available for $9.99, so make sure you have funds in your wallet! There are 56 unique levels on the PS3 version, as well as 56 completely different levels on the PSP version (112 levels overall), so no matter if you are sitting at home or on the go, there are plenty of puzzles for you to wrap your brain around.

echochrome PS3 2 gameplay5

If you did not see my last post and are wondering “What is echochrome?” It’s a fun and addictive puzzle game with really elegant and simple graphics. The concept is inspired by the famous MC Escher artwork, which explores infinity, architecture and impossible constructions. In echochrome, you control the camera and perspective on an infinite canvas, guiding a mannequin figure by carefully tilting and turning the level to create a continual pathway, allowing your character to walk safely through the design. Also, there is a Canvas mode, where you will be able to create your own puzzles from scratch and share them with your friends, or even the world! You can still download the demo for free and sharpen your skills before taking on the full version when it is released on Thursday.

echochrome PS3 2 gameplay19echochrome PS3 2 gameplay23

Stay tuned to the Playstation blog, because later this week, I will give you some tips on creating your own mind-bending levels to play and share with friends, as well as details on getting the top user-created levels each week for free (on the PS3 version). It blew 1UP’s mind … now it’s your turn.

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PLAYSTATION Store price parity for Canadian consumers

Post by: Grace Chen on April 30th, 2008 | File Under Uncategorized

It’s been one of the most frequent requests made during every store update in the past year: Many of you have been asking us to bring Canadian pricing more into line with the exchange rate. As SCEA Senior Vice President Peter Dille mentioned in the comments area of his post on April 15th, “we understand the concerns and are looking to correct the discrepancy.” That time has arrived.

I am excited to let all of our Canadian gamers know that we will be adjusting prices for downloadable content available through the PLAYSTATION Store for the Canadian market as a result of the strengthening Canadian currency vs. the US dollar. We’ll be executing the adjustments in a phased approach prior to the regular PLAYSTATION Store update on Thursday. On May 1, prices on all downloadable content should be updated.

We thank you for your support and patience during the time it took to resolve this discrepancy.

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La colonna infame

Post by: Blog di Beppe Grillo on April 30th, 2008 | File Under Uncategorized

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Per telefonare a Zapping: numero verde 800 055 101, dal lunedì al venerdì, ore 19.40-21.00

agenzia delle entrate ha messo on line tutti i redditi dichiarati dai cittadini italiani nel 2005. Chiunque può accedere liberamente, senza essere identificato.Gli è stato suggerito dalla Ndrangheta, dalla Mafia, dalla Camorra e dalla Sacra Corona Unita. Padoa Schioppa e Visco, con la benedizione di Prodi e del centro sinistra unido che mai sera vencido, hanno eseguito. I rapimenti di persone saranno facilitati, il pizzo potrà essere proporzionato al reddito dichiarato. La criminalità organizzata non dovrà più indagare, presumere. Potrà andare a colpo sicuro collegandosi al sito dell’agenzia delle entrate.
I nullatenetenti e gli evasori non avranno comunque nulla da temere. Chi paga le tasse sarà punito, chi ne paga molte potrà essere sequestrato, taglieggiato, rapinato.
Le rapine in villa si faranno finalmente in tutta Italia e non saranno concentrate nel Lombardo Veneto.
Gli odi familiari troveranno libere manifestazioni, chi non ha concesso un prestito in famiglia e ha un alto reddito sarà finalmente smascherato.
Follia, questa è follia. Dopo l’indulto che ha liberato le carceri questo ex governo di imbelli, presuntuosi e deficienti fornisce ai criminali le informazioni sul reddito e l’indirizzo di casa dei contribuenti. Pagare le tasse così è troppo pericoloso, meglio una condanna per evasione fiscale che una coltellata o un rapimento. Il rapporto fiscale è tra il privato cittadino e lo Stato e tale deve rimanere.
Inviamo una mail al prossimo ministro dell’Economia Giulio Tremonti perché ristabilisca le regole della convivenza civile e blocchi l’accesso a chiunque di dati sensibili privati.
Nei prossimi giorni cercherò di capire chi è l’ispiratore di questa schifezza. È giusto che tutti lo vengano a sapere e che risponda delle eventuali conseguenze.

P.s. Da domani e per tutto il mese di maggio potete continuare a firmare per i referendum del V2-Day. I banchetti allestiti per giovedì 1 maggio: Busto Arsizio, Castellana, Gubbio, L'Aquila, Milano, San Benedetto del Tronto, Soleto, Solofra

No alla colonna infame Diffondi

V2-day, 25 aprile, per un'informazione libera:
1. Inserisci le tue foto su www.flickr.com con il tag V2-day
2. Inserisci tuoi video su www.youtube.com con il tag V2-day
3. Scarica il volantino del V2-day
4. Il video del V2-day
V2-day_piazza_San_Carlo.jpg
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V2-day_Palermo.jpg
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PixelJunk Monsters Encore details + interview

Post by: Deborah Mars on April 29th, 2008 | File Under Uncategorized

Hey everyone,

We’re excited to be working with Dylan Cuthbert and Q-Games again on the upcoming release of PixelJunk Monsters Encore, a new expansion pack to the original game, which was released in late January 2008.

You may have recently read some previews of PJM Encore in a bunch of places. If you haven’t checked them out, here’s what 1UP, IGN, Gamespot, Crispy Gamer, and Gamespot (again!) had to say about it.

PixelJunk Monsters Encore

Of course we’re huge fans of all things Monsters, and totally biased about spreading the PixelJunk gospel but first, here’s a quick overview of some of the highlights in PixelJunk Monsters Encore:

  • 1 new island, Toki Island
  • 15 new levels
  • 5 new music tracks from Otograph
  • Ice Tower is now a stock item
  • Reduced gem cost to buy the Tesla Tower
  • Releasing in May 2008

PixelJunk Monsters Encore

We had loads of questions for Dylan and team, so we’re splitting this interview into two parts. Featured below are my top five burning questions for Dylan, and be sure to check back next week when SCE Associate Producer Matt Morton delivers the goods on the remaining five.

1. (Deb) How did you decide on the name for the expansion pack? Personally, you know we liked “PixelJunk Monsters: The Lost Island” or “PixelJunk Monsters: The Others”…we’re huge fans of the TV show Lost over here.

(Dylan) Heh heh. Yes I particularly liked “The Others” as I am a fan of Lost too…and am even signed up for that theories forum, 49153…whatever it’s called. However, we needed a name that could be understood in Japan as well, as we don’t like having a different title here, and Encore is understood by the Japanese (although it is pronounced “ahnkowlu”). Also, we wanted the name to reflect the fact that the reason we made this pack is because of the huge response we got from fans of the original, so Encore seemed particularly appropriate as it is what you shout at the end of a good concert etc, when you want just that *little bit more*.

2. (Deb) We get some fan mail here (thanks QA!), but we’re sure you get tons more. Can you spill the beans on what has been your most crazed fan mail to date? Anything PixelJunk juicy?

(Dylan) We’ve been getting a lot of fan mail every week. The bulk tends to arrive just after the weekend so I presume everybody is playing it non-stop during the weekend and they get back to work on Monday/Tuesday etc., feel the itch to play again but can’t, and then look up our mail address on the net. We haven’t had any crazy e-mails, but we’ve had lots of people suggest ideas for a sequel which is really cool. Also, we had a couple of mails about plasma tv burn-in, and rest-assured if we had known people would be playing this game the no. of hours people seem to be playing it then we would have discovered this problem. Therefore Encore and all future PixelJunk games will have an anti-burn option in the menu so as to prevent the PixelJunk logo being forever scarred into your TVs!

We get loads of mails from couples who are enjoying PixelJunk Monsters together. It’s surprising how RTS-like games (usually associated with war and destruction) appeal to both male and female alike, perhaps they even appeal more to women?

3. (Deb) Are the rumors true about your need to make this expansion pack? Was your marriage really in jeopardy if you didn’t turn around a quick XP?

(Dylan) Haha, no, not at all…but my wife simply loved the game so much she would badger me every day for more levels, so in the end I caved in. Of course, we were also getting mails every day from people asking for more so we simply decided to listen to everyone!

4. (Deb) What is your favorite map in PJM Encore & why?

(Dylan) Racer Gardens, because the rough layout is based on a track in PixelJunk Racers and it is a really tough map to beat, but really enjoyable once you learn the patterns. (Hint: The big guys always cross the bridges!)

The secret for the all-clear is rather superb, too, but of course we want the first real player to get there to spill the beans on that one.

5. (Deb) What was the inspiration for the unique and charming art style?

(Dylan) Well, our lead designer on the project, Andy Palmer, came up with some weird red riding hood style pics of a forest with a little girl in a hood and wolves in a kind of Sabre Wulf looking game (Sabre Wulf is an old game Rare made for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 in Britain back in the 80s), but it also had hints of the SNES version of Zelda. Let’s ask Andy himself.

(Andy) Originally we were just throwing around game ideas on the company BBS. I was making concept images to illustrate how the games might look and as Dylan mentioned, one of the images I made was of a simple multiplayer game inspired by Red Riding Hood, which was set in a forest. When it was later decided that we were going to be making a tower defense game, Dylan said he liked the style of the forest image and from then it became the basis for the rest of the game’s look. Initially I didn’t really want to go in that direction because I didn’t really have any character design or 2D game experience, but Dylan encouraged me to stick with it and I’m glad I did. Not only did the game end up looking good, but I was also able to use a graphics tablet instead of a mouse for several months, which helped my arms recover from RSI )

(Dylan) So I suppose those two games were subtle inspirations for the style, but then Andy took it all and slowly transformed it into the whole southern tropical island WikiTiki type thing and we ran with it. The monsters have all been animated by those weird witch-masks they are wearing, but underneath those masks they are probably all friendly folk you would invite around for tea.

(Deb) Very cool, and we should mention that Andy created some really amazing new themes, wallpapers and avatars so keep your eyes open on the PS Store for these very soon.


We’re going a bit long here so we’ll pick this back up again next week for the continuation of our interview. Five more questions and answers, plus a few more details about the expansion that you simply won’t want to miss.

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La corda che si spezza

Post by: Blog di Beppe Grillo on April 29th, 2008 | File Under Uncategorized

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Nel 2008 la crescita della produzione in Italia è stimata in 0,5%. Solo qualche mese fa si scommetteva sull’unoequalcosa%. Finirà sotto lo 0%. Una possibile stima è di MENO 0,5%. Ci sarà una recessione dura, ma all’italiana. Il calo della produzione equivale a un calo dell’occupazione. Una recessione si traduce in centinaia di migliaia di posti di lavoro in meno. In Italia l’occupazione invece salirà e scenderanno gli stipendi. E’ il trend degli ultimi anni.
Come funziona? Si trasforma un lavoratore dipendente in precario. Un terzo dello stipendio di prima, addio alla pensione e nessuna sicurezza (che costa) sul lavoro. L’equazione è semplice. Più recessione = meno stipendio, più precari (e quindi più occupazione) e più caduti sul lavoro. Il numero di precari è arrivato a circa cinque milioni, c’è spazio per migliorare. L’intera popolazione italiana. L’abolizione dell’articolo 18 di cui si discute è, in fondo, un aiuto alla crescita del precariato e dell’occupazione. E anche dei morti di fame. La recessione è mondiale, ma la coppa del mondo l’abbiamo già vinta noi. Stime di crescita in Europa e dintorni per il 2008: Slovacchia 7,4%, Russia 7,0%, Ucraina 6,4%, Polonia 5,3%, Repubblica Ceca 4,8%, Turchia 4,6%, Norvegia 3,4%, Irlanda 3,2%, Grecia 3,1%, Svezia 2,5%, Olanda 2,3%, Ungheria 2,2, Belgio 1,9%, UK-Germania 1,7%, Francia-Danimarca-Portogallo 1,6% (*).
Siamo gli ultimi degli ultimi, ma proposte reali per il rilancio del Paese non ci sono. Il motivo è semplice: per cambiare vanno travolti gli equilibri sui quali si regge il Sistema. Che da solo non si riformerà mai. Quanti sono rimasti a produrre reale ricchezza in Italia? Quanti sono i parassiti? I primi diminuiscono, i secondi aumentano a vista d’occhio insieme ai precari, ai nuovi poveri, al debito pubblico. Prima dell’euro si svalutava la lira, oggi si indebita, con allegria, la Nazione con nuove emissioni di titoli di Stato.
I problemi economici del Paese, per esempio l’Alitalia, si risolvono indebitandolo. Ma la corda si spezzerà. Nel 2008 pagheremo circa 70 miliardi di euro di interessi sui titoli emessi. Circa quattro finanziarie, belin. Nel 2009 gli interessi saranno di più, per tre motivi. Il primo è che l’Italia è considerata a rischio e per competere con i titoli di Stato degli altri Paesi deve garantire interessi più alti. Il secondo è che il debito pubblico aumenta. Il terzo è che la nostra produzione sta calando. Alla catastrofe, ma con ottimismo.
(*) Fonte: Consensus Economics


Esempio di giornalismo:
La Repubblica (più di 16 milioni di euro di contributi pubblici annui al gruppo L'Espresso) dopo il V2-day riporta: "In 50mila allo show di Grillo" e un articolo di Francesco Merlo

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La Repubblica per il primo maggio 2007: "Piazza san Carlo dove hanno parlato i leader sindacali davanti a 100mila persone"

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V2-day, 25 aprile, per un'informazione libera:
1. Inserisci le tue foto su www.flickr.com con il tag V2-day
2. Inserisci tuoi video su www.youtube.com con il tag V2-day
3. Scarica il volantino del V2-day
4. Il video del V2-day
V2-day_piazza_San_Carlo.jpg
Clicca l'immagine

v2-day_Parigi.jpg
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METAL GEAR MONDAYS: New MGO Beta Content!

Post by: Brandon Laurino on April 29th, 2008 | File Under Uncategorized

Hi all! Welcome back to Metal Gear Mondays! It’s certainly been a busy week, and once again, we’d like to take a second to thank you for all the great compliments and feedback from our previous installments – and of course, your enthusiasm for all that is Metal Gear!

We’ll pick up where we left off … As many of you know, gameplay of the Metal Gear Online Beta for the PLAYSTATION 3 is well underway as of the time of this post – please see the last bunch of Metal Gear PS Blog posts for full details on the Metal Gear Online Beta program and content to date.

First, we’d like to clarify, once again, because we see people still asking about this - Metal Gear Online comes with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It is not a separate product. Metal Gear Online is the online multiplayer component of MGS4. We will be expanding MGO over time through new downloadable content (DLC), such as, maps, weapons, skills, and much more.

MGO is not a paid subscription service, you can play online totally free right out of the box - we know some of you thought there might be some payment because of the last step of Konami ID registration, but that is to confirm your identity for future potential microtransaction content updates (you don’t have to register any payment info right now anyhow). There is no payment necessary to play, and - again - that is for future potential microtransaction content updates, when that content is available, should you want it.

Good news – for those of you who might not have yet received a Unique Product Voucher Code (UPVC) to download the MGO Beta client, there are still a few opportunities to obtain one from the very limited batch of UPVC’s being given away now through our promotional partners at IGN, Games Radar, and the Mad Gamer Network – and some of you PS GAP members should have a special surprise in your inbox too J. Please carefully follow the instructions on our partner’s sites for your chance to win! Again, this batch of MGO Beta UPVC’s are available in an EXTREMELY limited quantity, so don’t wait, hurry and register now!

Next, we are happy to announce NEW content for the MGO Beta is LIVE NOW!

We have included one new map Midtown Maelstrom

img04_03

This is a part of the Middle East stage in MGS4. This consists of some main streets and alternate routes. Numerous alleys are in between buildings, and are dark, narrow, and very confusing.

Next, we have released a new gametype rule, Sneaking Mission.

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In this rule, there will be one character and two teams in the game. Snake, Red team, and Blue team. Snake’s mission is to collect a certain number of dog tags, by having other players stunned or held up. Red and Blue teams’ mission is to defeat Snake certain times or defeat more players in the opposing team. If more than 10 people are in the game, another player may play as Snake’s mini robotic sidekick Mk. II, to assist the Snake player. If you are playing as Snake, you have many of his incredible abilities available to you – such as the camouflage!

There are some other random things about MGO and the MGO Beta that we’d like to address:

You may not have noticed, but in the MGO Main Menu, you can access the Community Site right from in game. You can also access it here http://mgo2web.konami.com/us/community/ from a PC/web browser at any time. You need to have created a character to access the site. Once inside, you can manage and view your friends, clan, profile, stats, blog, and there will be many other features introduced over time. Additionally, you can post feedback in the forum, and this is really the best place to get your MGO feedback to us (yes, we do also try to read all the comments here at the PS Blog and elsewhere – and, I’m sorry, I wish we had time to respond to each and every one – we try to address as much as possible in these posts).

Another issue is it seems some of you have had issues activating your mics – please make sure you have connected your USB/Bluetooth mic correctly via the PS3 system settings. If you have, then simply hold down the select button in-game, and you will see a message appear that your mic is on as well as a mic activity status message with your name (if you’re speaking), if you are in a lobby you will see a flashing mic indicator next to your name.

Please also try out the training modes in game thoroughly, as they can be helpful for newcomers and veterans alike. Here you can learn the intricacies of CQC, weapons, movement, and just about any other gameplay question you might have. There are also extensive options in game for tweaking your controls (e.g., inversion, camera speed, weapon shortcuts, etc), ui, and much more – please be sure to take some time to set up MGO exactly how you like!

Lastly on MGO, to add a friend, you want to do a player search by their character name (not Konami ID or Game ID), which are case sensitive (e.g., Hideo and hideo could be separate characters). Please note, your friend must be logged into MGO at that time to appear (otherwise you’ll get a “not found” error). To check up on your friends, just go to your Friend List inside the Personal menu. Your added friends will appear here, and if they are online, it will show what lobby they are in too (if its unranked and they’re in game, you can join them immediately, if there’s room in their game).

Please don’t forget to check out the latest KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS REPORT from Ryan Payton at Kojima Productions in Japan!

We’ll see you here next week on the PS Blog, for the next installment of Metal Gear Mondays!

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Comunicato politico numero 10

Post by: Blog di Beppe Grillo on April 28th, 2008 | File Under Uncategorized

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Destra e sinistra non esistono. Esiste un gruppo di affari. L'Italia è il suo business. Le nostre tasse sono le sue entrate. I media sono la sua voce. Non esistono giornalisti buoni e giornalisti cattivi. Esiste l'informazione di regime. E' solo una questione di sfumature tra l'Unità e il Giornale, tra il Tg1 e il Tg5. Non esistono giornalisti, esistono persone che hanno il coraggio di manifestare la verità e diventano eroi, star, cittadini sotto scorta. Esistono persone che scrivono, parlano, comunicano. Si chiamano uomini e donne. Esiste l'ordine naturale di chi sa leggere, scrivere, parlare e usa queste sue capacità per descrivere il mondo. Nessuno è un giornalista, tutti siamo giornalisti. In Rete tutti siamo giornalisti. I giornali e le televisioni sono il passato. Il V2 day ha dimostrato che l'informazione è in Rete. I filmati delle città che hanno partecipato al V2 day sono in Rete. Centinaia di testimonianze del V2 day a Piazza San Carlo sono in Rete. Le firme raccolte complessivamente per i tre referendum sono circa 1.500.000. Non è mai successo nella storia della Repubblica in un tempo così breve. Per ogni referendum sono necessarie 500.000 firme. Per tutto il mese di maggio la raccolta continuerà con i banchetti. E' necessario il maggior numero di firme per raggiungere un margine di sicurezza. A luglio 2008 Beppe Grillo consegnerà le firme alla Corte di Cassazione. L'informazione in Italia non si può più riformare. E' andata in metastasi nei consigli di amministrazione delle banche e delle industrie, negli uffici stampa dei partiti, nei salotti buoni. Va creata una nuova informazione in Rete. Il 25 aprile i partigiani dell'informazione sono scesi in piazza. Il 25 aprile è sceso in piazza anche Testa d'Asfalto con Ciarrapico. Indovinate chi sono stati i preferiti di Topo Gigio, dei pidini doc e dei loro giornali. Siamo tutti Don Peppone e siamo tutti Don Camillo. La Storia non si può riscrivere, ma il futuro si può creare, inventare. La verità è il nostro futuro. Teniamo la fiamma accesa.

Esempio di giornalismo:
L'Unità dopo il V2-day riporta: "Piazza San Carlo non può contenere più di 40.000 persone"

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L'Unità per il primo maggio 2007 in piazza San Carlo: "Almeno 100mila persone"

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V2-day, 25 aprile, per un'informazione libera:
1. Inserisci le tue foto su www.flickr.com con il tag V2-day
2. Inserisci tuoi video su www.youtube.com con il tag V2-day

3. Scarica il volantino del V2-day

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Clicca l'immagine

Scarica "La Settimana" N°16-vol3
del 20 aprile 2008
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Search Wikia

Post by: Andrei on April 28th, 2008 | File Under Uncategorized
Search Wikia

The new search engine of the founder of Wikipedia, the Search Wikia, was launched on the Internet but is on trial version (alpha), preventing the use of all tools at the site. As with Wikipedia, founded by Jimmy Wales, the wikia.com is based on participation and contribution of Internet users, who can control the system and organize the results of its research and improve the relevance of results.

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Nanomotor termico

Post by: Andrei on April 28th, 2008 | File Under Uncategorized
Nanomotor termico

Researchers Spaniards managed to produce the first nanomotor heat of the world, an engine in nanoscale moved by differential in temperature. He can either turn around an axis, as does a rotary engine normal

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Reduction of fuels by 15%

Post by: Andrei on April 28th, 2008 | File Under Uncategorized
Engineers at the University of Delft (Netherlands) have developed a system of carenagens side for lorries, which reduces fuel consumption by up to 15%. The new solution aerodynamic tests showed the practical results higher than predicted by computer simulations on.
The set is composed of aerodynamic "skirts" side and a "tail" that reduces the so-called "track", a set of vacuum and air currents that exist in the rear of the trailer to the extent that the truck moves.
Based on the real tests, the researchers estimate that the investment in the placement of side skirts and tail of the truck is recovered in two years. The set aerodynamic as a whole reduced air resistance by 30%, which translates into a fuel economy of 15%.

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