‘Heads-Up’ Game Store Update (4th August 2010) Countries: AE, AU, GB, IE, NZ

Another week comes rolling in and another PlayStation Store update comes in to land with a cargo hold full of goodies.

Our new Plus content (detailed yesterday by James) will be delivered with today’s update, including a trial of the previously BD only inFamous. If you’ve never played it you’re in for a treat – the opening is positively electrifying (HAHAHAHA! Oh dear…) so make sure you give it a go.

What’s in the grab bag this week? In a break from convention we’ll start with the portable content because along with a PSP version of the recently released Groovin’ Blocks, we’ve got a much requested title – Powered by Namco… it’s Ridge Racer! A true classic and still one of the best driving experiences on PSP.

Remember last time you saw me I teased you about one of my favourite PSOne Classics coming to the store? Well brush off your fighting gloves and prepare to beat the heck out of a grown man wearing spandex trousers and a jaguar mask because it’s here, it’s Tekken 2 and, while it’s not quite as fast-paced as more modern fighters, it’s still brilliant.

For your TV’s best friend we’ve got a good selection as well – Gundemonium Collection brings the ‘bullet hell’ genre screaming onto the PSN with three games in one: Gundemonium Recollection; GundeadliGne and Hitogata Happa. If you feel like punishing your trigger fingers and generally view blinking as a waste of time, these are the games for you. Not convinced you need all three games? Well okay, we’ll let you buy them separately too but don’t say we never do anything for you.

Are you among one of the twenty or so people in Europe who hasn’t already played Modern Warfare 2? Well, we’ve got the Cliffhanger demo ready for you – grab your ice climbing gear, it’s gonna get chilly.

LittleBigPlanet takes leave of Plus and becomes available to everyone this week, just in time for the launch of the third set of Marvel Costumes including two of my favourites, Wolverine and Venom.

We’ve got more for Bioshock 2 (single player challenges this time), more for ModNation Racers and another course for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.

In the grand tradition of Heads Up posts I’ll be here to field your comments as usual so I’ll catch you all in a little while.

PlayStation Store (via PS3, PSP and Media Go)

Special Offers

(Available until the 18th of August)

• High Stakes on the Vegas Strip (was – £7.99/€9.99 now – £3.99/€7.99)
• Switchball (was – £6.29/€7.99 now – £3.99/€4.99)
• Section 8 (was – £19.99/€24.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
• Flock (was – £11.99/€14.99 now – £5.49/€6.99)
• 1942: Joint Strike (was – £7.99/€9.99 now – £3.99/€4.99)
• Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon (PSP) (was – £9.99/€12.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
• WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 (PSP) (was – £23.99/€29.99 now – £17.99/€21.99)
• R-Type Tactics (PSP) (was – £11.99/€14.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
• Stellar Attack (mini) (was – £3.49/€3.99 now – £2.49/€2.99)

Permanent Price Reductions

• Kick-Ass: The Game

(was – £9.99/€12.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)

• Need for Speed Shift (PSP)

(was – £31.99/€39.99 now – £15.99/€19.99)

Downloadable Games (PS3)

• LittleBigPlanet (£16.99/€26.99) Rating: PEGI 7

Availability: All locales

• Gundemonium Collection (£9.99/€12.99) (contains the following games which are also available separately)
  • Gundemonium Recollection (£3.99/€4.99)
  • GundeadliGne (£3.99/€4.99)
  • Hitogata Happa (£3.99/€4.99)

Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: All locales

Downloadable Games (PSP)

• Groovin’ Blocks (£6.29/€7.99) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: All locales

• Ridge Racer (£15.99/€19.99) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: All locales

PSone Games (PS3/PSP)

• Tekken 2 (£3.99/€4.99) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: All locales

minis (PS3/PSP)

• Solitaire (£2.49/€2.99) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: Not available in Russia

• Widget’s Odyssey 2 (£1.74/€1.99) Rating: PEGI 7

Availability: All locales

Demos (PS3)

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Cliffhanger Demo Rating: PEGI 18

Availability: Not available in Germany

Add-On Game Content (PS3)

• Bioshock 2 – The Protector Trials (£3.19/€3.99) Rating: PEGI 18

Availability: All locales

• ModNation Racers – Nukular Packs (£1.39/€1.75) Rating: PEGI 7

Availability: All locales

• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 – Riviera CC (£3.19/€3.99) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: All locales

• LittleBigPlanet – Marvel Costume Kit 3 (£4.79/€5.99) (contains the following costumes which are also available separately)
  • Captain America Costume (£1.59/€1.99)
  • Invisible Woman Costume (£1.59/€1.99)
  • Rogue Costume (£1.59/€1.99)
  • Venom Costume (£1.59/€1.99)
  • Wolverine Costume (£1.59/€1.99)

Rating: PEGI 7

Availability: All locales

• Rock Band
  • ‘I Only Want You’ by Eagles of Death Metal (£1.24/€1.49)
  • ‘Jesus Freak’ by dc Talk (£0.99/€1.49)
  • ‘Love Addict’ by Family Force 5 (£0.99/€1.49)
  • ‘Rapture’ by Blondie (£0.99/€1.49)
  • ‘Saturday Morning’ by Eels (£0.99/€1.49)
  • ‘Sturm & Drang’ by KMFDM (£0.99/€1.49)
  • ‘The Perfect Crime #2′ by The Decemberists (£0.99/€1.49)
  • ‘Bulletproof’ by La Roux (£0.99/€1.49)

Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: Not available in Czech Republic, Greece, Luxembourg, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates

• Rock Band Network
  • ‘Crushed Beyond Dust’ by Skeletonwitch (£0.99/€1.49)
  • ‘Elements‘ by Texas in July (£0.59/€0.79)
  • ‘Fake It’ by Seether (£0.99/€1.49)
  • ‘Heads or Tails? Real or Not’ by Emarosa (£0.99/€1.49)
  • ‘Is There a Ghost’ by Band of Horses (£0.99/€1.49)

Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: Not available in Czech Republic, Greece, Luxembourg, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates

• Guitar Hero 5
  • The Used Track Pack (£4.39/€5.49) (contains the following tracks which are also available separately)
  • Pretty Handsome Awkward (£1.59/€1.99)
  • The Bird and the Worm (£1.59/€1.99)
  • The Taste of Ink (£1.59/€1.99)

Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: Not available in Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates

Add-On Game Content (PSP)

• LittleBigPlanet
  • Robin Hood Men in Sacks Level Kit (£2.39/€2.99)
  • Robin Hood Men in Sacks Costume Kit (free)

Rating: PEGI 7

Availability: All locales

FirstPlay (PS3)

• Episode 018 (£0.99/€1.20)

Availability: Ireland and UK only

Videos (PS3)

• Crysis 2 Pinger Teaser Trailer

Soundtracks (PS3)

• Super Stardust HD Soundtrack (£1.59/€1.99)

Themes (PS3)

• Von Chrono Themes’ Bad Business (£1.19/€1.49)

Wallpapers (PS3)

• Fat Princess: Fat Roles Ninja Wallpaper

• Fat Princess: Fat Roles Pirate Wallpaper

FirstPlay Episode 18

Hello, FirstPlay producer David Boddington standing in for your regular host Nathan Ditum here. Episode 18 goes live on the Store this Wednesday, and we’ve been halfway round the world to bring you the latest from the team behind PES 2011. Then we’re taking another trip back to the future of PS3, with a preview of upcoming teleport-‘em-up (that’s not going to stick, is it?), Portal 2.

We also check out the games that are sure to be weighing down Santa this year, including Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Crysis 2, Fallout: New Vegas and Test Drive Unlimited 2. Over in the HD Reviews and Previews section, we give you the chance to put your controller down and enjoy some hi-def, Blu-ray sexiness, as we review an irate army of angels in Legion.

In Network Highlights you’ll find more treats, including brilliant ModNation Racers creations, plus another batch of FIFA onion bag scorchers. We’re also going back to the future once more (black-hole-inducing Johnny B. Goode paradoxes notwithstanding), as we preview upcoming PSN titles PixelJunk Shooter 2,Dead Nation and Trine 2.

Then we’re speeding our way back to the present as we dig out some more current gaming gems for you, including Death Track: Resurrection, Söldnor X2: Final Prototype, and some high-seas hi-jinks with Tales Of Monkey Island. There’s plenty more to check out in our Screenshot Galleries, including forthcoming PlayStation Move titles and gritty new first person shooter Bodycount.

Then you can hit the streets of Hong Kong with True Crime, before taking a much more relaxing trip with shots from The Journey, a new PSN game from the guys behind ground-breaking flOw and Flower. You can download episode 18 of FirstPlay for 99p, or better still, pay just 75p per episode if you take out a 90-day subscription for £8.99.

If you have any feedback for us, or want to make any suggestions, then please get in touch! You can find us on Facebook, on Twitter @firstplay_uk, on email FirstPlay@futurenet.com, or the interweb official EU forums .

See the Future of PS3. First.

System Software 3.41 (Update)

For those users who are replacing the PS3 hard disk drive: we are aware of the symptoms with the system software update 3.41, released on July 27, and that it will cause the update to stop in some occasions while replacing the PlayStation 3 (PS3) Hard Disk Drive (HDD) if the PS3 system is installed with version 3.41.

To resolve these symptoms, we have released a new version of system software update 3.41 with a very minor change (the version number does not change) on August 2. If you are experiencing such symptoms when replacing the HDD of your PS3 system, we kindly ask you to use the latest data and try again. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused, and appreciate your understanding and continued support.

For any other questions, please contact your local customer service.

PlayStation Plus Content For August And September

Hi Guys, just a quick note to let you know what Plus members can expect to see this month and also what’s coming up next month.

Here’s what will be available to Plus members from Aug 4th – Aug 31st

PSN:	Zen Pinball
minis:	Blast-Off Alien Zombie Death
PSOne Classic:	Medievil
Full Game Trial:	Infamous Mushroom Wars
Exclusive Discounts:	Zen Pinball Earth Defense Table – 20% Warhawk Triple Combo Pack – 50% GT Club PS3/PSN – 50% WipeOut HD Fury – 20%
DLC:	MotorStorm Pacific Rift: Adrenaline Pack
Automatic download demo:	Pixel Junk Shooter Mafia 2
Dynamic themes:	Exclusive PlayStation Plus Theme Exclusive ‘Clock’ Theme
Premium avatars:	Heavy Rain characters x 2

And here is what you can expect to see from the 1st Sept – 30th Sept

PSN:	Sam and Max: Devil’s Playground (entire season)
minis:	Vector Tower Defense Echoes
PSOne Classic:	Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
Full Game Trial:	Warhawk (with exclusive 50% discount for Plus members on purchase) Inferno Pool
Exclusive Discounts:	LBP: Ico and Shadow of Colossus costume pack – 50% Metal Gear Solid (PSOne) – 50% Warhawk – 20% Pixel Junk Shooter – 20%
DLC:	Exclusive UFC Undisputed 2010 DLC
Dynamic themes:	Exclusive PlayStation Move theme Exclusive ‘Fish Tank’ theme
Premium avatars:	Eye Pet Blue Goalie Avatar Eye Pet DJ Avatar

We’ve listened to your feedback on here so, rest assured, this is not all that will be available each month; look out for some more exclusive, surprise treats coming to Plus in August and September.

Hopefully there is plenty there to entertain you!

In this content list and the months to come, we will be using the suggestions of game content you gave use recently on here, and trying to include the most requested games wherever we can. We’ve already acted on some of your suggestions and have put fan favourites Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee and Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playground (the entire season) into the games you get.

As always, please feel free to tell me if there is anything in particular you would like to see in the Plus content list.

Enjoy all this and keep an eye out for some extra exclusive treats during the month!

Skate 3 - Hawaiian Dream DLC Trailer

Skate 3

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: Electronic Arts

Release Date: May 11, 2010

Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Unlock classic Danny Way gear in this Hawaiian Dream DLC available July 6.

Video Games | Skate 3 | Hawaiian Dream DLC Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii