Sony have released an interview with the PS Vita designer Tokashi Sogabe. Tokashi Sogabe had previously designed the Walkman, Vaio Notebooks, and the PS3 Slim. He has revealed some secrets from development of the PS Vita. he talks about some issues he had designing the Vita, some of which were his own doing like trying to have it all made out of Metal (which means the 3G+GPS wouldn't have worked).
His first reveal is that they did try out a 5.5 inch screen that had all the buttons on it, but that idea was abandoned due to how it affected operating the PSV. one of the biggest issues faced when designing the PSV was the Analogue sticks. he reveals they tried out laptop touch pads but they didn't feel responsive enough. he says he preferred them from a design point of view but Sony Worldwide Studios decided to go with them and where to place them.
Another conflict he had was with the engineers. as a designer he said he preferred the device to be as thin a possible, and this final model is a little bigger than what he wanted. ultimately it was up to the engineers to point out that having it bigger meant a bigger battery and more.
EA have announced Shank 2, from Klei Entertainment, is set to come out across Europe on PC, PS3, And Xbox 360 for 8th February. the game will be available from the PSN for €9.99 and from XBLA for 800 MS Points. Shank 2 features Shank once more but now the game features more precise controls, new weapons, and smarter enemies. there is also now a survival mode, which works online and offline.
Ed Boon has detailed the PS Vita version of Mortal Kombat. it has every feature the PS3 version has, including characters, DLC, and Story mode. Ed has admitted that the PS Vita version does have reduced polygons but the screen is good enough for the game to look like the console versions...and a 60 fps frame rate.
There are now Two Challenge Towers in the game, the original Challenge Tower and new 150 Challenge Tower designed to take advantage of the PS Vita, it will also be exclusive to the Vita. Mortal Kombat won't use the rear touchscreen, instead there is a focus on the front touchscreen. you can touch the x-ray meter to unleash a X-ray Attack. fatalities also have touchscreen inputs.
There won't be any cross platform features with the PS3 and online multiplayer won't have 8 player online fighting modes or 4 players in one match.
Namco Bandai have released a new trailer for Soul Calibur V. this story trailer provides some back story from the previous games, the overarching theme of the swords, and tells some story of these new characters.
Activison have announced they have partnered with Dark Horse Comics to bring a new Prototype digital comic. coming 15th February, this new comic will be broken into 3 original stories that bridge the gap between Prototype and Prototype 2. "The Anchor," illustrated by Paco Diaz, continues the story of Alex Mercer, the protagonist from the first game, while the second story, "The Survivors," illustrated by Chris Staggs, follows a small group of residents of New York trying to escape the city after it has been transformed into NYZ with the outbreak of the Blacklight virus. The third and final story, illustrated by Victor Drujiniu, is "The Labyrinth" and provides fans a deeper look into the backstory of PROTOTYPE 2's new protagonist, Sgt. James Heller.
You can get each comic starting from the 15th February at Digital.Darkhorse.com, with a new release coming every other week.
Square Enix have released a new trailer for Final Fantasy XIII-2. this trailer uses in-game action to show the time travel mechanic in the game. the trailer shows how you find the crystals needed and some of the places you can go.
Ubisoft have released a new trailer for I Am Alive. this video, with in-game examples, shows the options you have when faced with an enemy encounter. the simple option is to sneak up on them but in I Am Alive there are more options. you can draw your gun and pretend your going to shoot, use other weapons like Bow and Arrows, or just simply shoot them.
