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Joystiq Podcast 008 - Sony Gamer's Day edition
After a short break marred by technical difficulties, Ludwig rejoins the podcast to go over the Halo 3 beta, the StarCraft 2 announcement, and Guitar Hero III. Song. By. Song. We also join up with Joystiq's Kevin Kelly who spent a couple days in San Diego at Sony's Gamer's Day event, to get the skinny on what Sony's got in store. Get the podcast:
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Hosts: Christopher Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann, and Justin McElroy
Guests: Joystiq's Kevin Kelly
Music: "We Weren't Put Together" by David E. Sugar
Program:
0:05:10 - Halo 3 beta
0:13:41 - StarCraft 2
0:19:16 - Sony Gamer's Day 07 (see PlayStation Fancast for more detail)
0:21:08 - Little Big Planet, PlayStation Home, Pain
0:35:40 - WarHawk, Drake's Fortune, Heavenly Sword
0:44:35 - Socom Confrontation, Folklore, High Velocity Bowling
0:51:18 - Stranglehold, God of War: Chains of Olympus
0:57:58 - April NPD ("My Pokemans. Let me show you them.")
1:05:39 - PlayStation 3 1.80
1:08:44 - Guitar Hero III songs
1:22:05 - FIN
SGD '07: Joystiq hands-on with John Woo's Stranglehold
Now, if you haven't seen a John Woo film, you need to rush out and rent one right now. Since Hard Boiled, which is the prequel to this game, comes on the Blu-ray disc, we'd recommend The Killer. Both of 'em star Chow Yun Fat, tons of guns, and a lot of over-the-top action. Hong Kong action cinema at it's finest.
Gallery: Stranglehold (PS3)
SGD '07: Joystiq hands-on with PlayStation Home
While the PlayStation Home beta is going on right now, there weren't too many people wandering around, which is probably a good thing. For first timers, it sure would be hard to figure out what was happening with crowds walking through you, talking to you, and ... dancing. Yes, right now dancing is the most popular feature for groups to participate in, continuing the World of Warcraft phenomenon of cutting a rug when you encounter other players.
Gallery: PlayStation Home
Sony's High Velocity Bowling started 'literally right before' Nintendo announced Wii Sports' Bowling

But why argue about who was first to the gimmick? Considering price, Wii Sports and High Velocity are categorically different. Wii Sports is free, but as a PSN title, High Velocity will likely cost in the $5-to-10 range (and planned expansion packs could balloon the total price). If Rohde's statements are accurate, then High Velocity will end up more akin to Rockstar's Table Tennis or maybe the Outlaw sports series, as it will apparently feature a more robust physics engine than Wii Sports and pre-built unlockable characters. Wii's Bowling will ultimately be matched up against PlayStation Home's built-in bowling game, which is being developed separately from High Velocity, but, like the others, will probably incorporate motion controls.
Pursuit Force sequel allowing four players to jump onboard
No word yet on if you can hijack one of your fellow player's modes of transport or not, but we imagine there will be a fair share of leaping back and forth going on. Those Pursuit Force cops sure are agile ... not to mention pretty liberal with the whole "we need to borrow your car" thing.
Joystiq eyes-on God of War: Chains of Olympus for PSP

Finally, there we were, sitting on a blindingly white couch, staring at the goodness that is God of War: Chains of Olympus on one of Sony's massive screens. They had a PSP wired up to it, and although the image was cropped a bit on-screen, it made us want to blow up everything we play to that size. We studied the control diagram, noted that it was all very simple, and reached for the controller ... denied!
Gallery: God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)
PSP Fanboy Theatre: Volume 20
Instructions: Save all movie and thumbnail files to the VIDEO folder. These high resolution 480x272 videos require firmware 3.30 or above. (Note: OE custom firmware will also play these videos.)

Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow [PSP]
Download MP4 (8.1MB) | Download JPG
The following Gamers Day videos are featured after the break: Jeanne de Arc (PSP), PaRappa the Rapper (PSP), Pursuit Force Extreme Justice (PSP), SOCOM Tactical Strike (PSP)
Pursuit Force dishing out Extreme Justice this Fall
Adding 3 more playable characters to the mix and a new array of vehicles to leap on, over and between in high-speed chases, Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice hopes to make good on the promise the original game showed but delivered in pieces. Let's hope it's transported in an armored van this time.
Gallery: Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice (PSP)
Warhawk beta starts next week, application up now
Our worrisome siblings at PS3 Fanboy fret that the beta, initially announced only to members of the exclusive Game Advisory Panel and the RLS, will remain exclusive to the two aforementioned groups. The beta for PS Home was predominantly GAP members and it appears the same situation might happen here. Regardless, it never hurts to try.
Gallery: Warhawk
[Via PS3 Fanboy]
PSP Store is 'long overdue,' Sony admits

Tretton gave no further insight into the proposed venture, leaving us to wonder if he was merely referring to SOE's Station Launcher, a forthcoming service that will offer downloads of PSP-formatted movies directly to the handheld device (via PC). Of course, there would be obvious benefits to launching a portable counterpart of PS3's PlayStation Store, complete with PS1 games, demos, and trailers -- and, dare we suggest, full e-Distribution titles. All with just the flick of a WLAN switch. If only...
[Via PSP Fanboy]
SGD '07: Round up

Top Stories
- New Ratchet and Clank gallery proves very promising
- LittleBigPlanet gallery shows off creative talents
- Lair gallery shows little new, but still awesome
- Heavenly Sword gallery shows in-game footage
- This Uncharted gallery defines next-gen
- How about a delicious Warhawk gallery?
- Wii Sports-like bowling game for PSN
- Super Stardust HD gallery shows how planets survive
- Conan clobbers us with new screenshots
- New SOCOM screenshots, drab environments, nice detail
- New Singstar gallery shows off features, menus
- Pain announced for PSN, first gallery available
- A few NBA '08 screenshots to get your game on
- TimeShift confirmed on the PS3 + gallery!
- Dark Sector screenshots eviscerate you
- Some fancy screens of Baseball action from MLB '07 The Show
- Folklore gallery shows off colorful environments
- Stranglehold gallery will grab hold of you
- Eye of Judgment gallery to tease and envigorate
- Devil May Cry 4 gallery
- 2 new The Darkness screens are like a chainsaw to the heart
- Ninja Gaiden: Sigma screenshots - eight of them
- Four new Hellboy screenshots
- Home - living area screenshots
- Home - features screenshots
- Home - public spaces screenshots
- Rainbow Six: Vegas screenshots are gorgeous
SGD '07: Wii Sports-like bowling game for PSN
Sony revolutionizes the games industry yet again by introducing a sports game that detects your motion through the controller! Instead of pressing buttons, one can hold the controller and move it as if it were a real bowling ball. We love the idea!
But in all honesty, we think that the SIXAXIS may not be as well-suited for this type of gameplay as other consoles. Joystiq's Kevin Kelly tried the game, and as we suspected, didn't have the easiest time with the game: "You literally flip the controller on its side, hold it with your thumb between the analog sticks, and then sweep your arm gracefully along an arc while holding and releasing one of the buttons to send your ball down the alley. Sound simple? Well, it is and it isn't. Holding the SIXAXIS like that feels really, really weird. It's like we're wired or programmed to hold that controller with both hands, and doing something like that makes our gamer genes cry out in pain. Although, in all honesty, once we got the hang of it, it wasn't all that bad."
So while not truly revolutionary, High Velocity Bowling should offer some motion-sensing fun for the Wii-less. Because it's coming through the PLAYSTATION Network, this experiment in copycat design should, at the very least, be affordable.
SGD '07: Round up

Top Stories
- Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow
- SOCOM Tactical Strike
- God of War: Chains of Olympus
- Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles
- PaRappa the Rapper
- Pursuit Force Extreme Justice
- NBA '08 Block Party
- Jeanne D'Arc
- Sony releases latest sales statistics
- Silent Hill Origins
- Crazy Taxi Fare Wars
- Crush
- Dead Head Fred
- Dungeons and Dragons Tactics
- Final Fantasy I and II
- Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes
- Practical Intelligence Quotient 2
Enjoy.
SGD '07: Joystiq hands-on with LittleBigPlanet

The extreme amount of detail in this game, down to the stitching on the characters and the photorealism of some of the painted cardboard backdrops is amazing. It's oddly juxtaposed with the fact that it feels like such a little kid's game ... but the kind of little kid's game you can never put down, sort of like Lite-Brite or Barrel of Monkeys.
Gallery: LittleBigPlanet
SGD '07: Practical Intelligence Quotient 2

PQ2 will offer more than 250 puzzles for players to solve. And, if that weren't enough, a level editor will allow users to create their own puzzles for sharing through Infrastructure. Finally, the game wants to share the love: the game supports Game Sharing so that friends can experience ten levels of brain-squeezing fun.
Check out our screenshots below. The game releases June 12th.















