I'll probably pick up Shank. I remember the demo being fun, but reviews indicated it was really short. $5 seems about right though.

It's short, but fairly fun although repetitive. Got it last time it was on psn for 5 bucks which was like what? 2 weeks ago? lol

Yeah. It was on sale $5 for a full month, which ended on 7/5. Of course a week later it's back on sale for like a dime less.

I bit on Burnout paradise, with all the glowing reviews maybe I didn't give it a fair shake last time with my rage towards taking out crash mode. It still looks amazing and a good sandbox racer will still be good. Just have to think of it as a different game than the burnouts I'm used to. I also got BSI and the famous cars pack. Come on, who doesn't want to drive the BTTF delorean, the PK1 from Ghostbusters or Kitt from Knight rider, and The General Lee from Dukes of Hazard.

For under $5.00, I'm in for Risk: Factions.

If it isn't too late, get Big Surf Island as well...tons of content and the craziest jumps in the game.

I think that's what he meant by BSI.

...totally missed that!

Hey, the PSN is getting their own "Summer of the Arcade". I'm sucker enough to try it out.
Per Joystiq:

PlayStation Network PLAY is (a lot) like Summer of Arcade; starts later this month



by Christopher Grant on Aug 5th 2011 12:23PM

Sony has just announced PlayStation Network PLAY, "a new program showcasing four of the season's hottest action titles." We'll just cut right to the quick here, guys: It's Summer of Arcade, but for PS3. Oh, and with a way dumber name.

The four games on offer are Street Fighter III Third Strike Online Edition which will be available on August 23 for $15; the latest DeathSpank adventure The Baconing available August 30 for $15; the impressive BloodRayne: Betrayal, available for $15 on September 6 (a delay for PSN); and lastly Avalanche's Renegade Ops, available on September 15 for $15. There's one last game in this lineup of four: If you purchase all four of the above titles you'll be gifted Payday: The Heist by way of a voucher code "for redemption when the game releases." One caveat: You've got to be 18 or older (read: lie on your PSN account). If you don't want to bother with all that, you can pick it up solo for $20.

So that separate free game also sounds a lot like Summer of Arcade, but since we already know how Summer of Arcade works, we've taken it upon ourselves to catalog the ways that PlayStation Network PLAY is, in fact, totally different than Microsoft's initiative:

You can pre-order titles; each pre-order nets you a free PS3 theme
"PLAY also offers gamers a separate gift with purchase for each order made throughout the duration of the program" – These mostly take the form of free in-game goodies, like a DLC fighter for Street Fighter III, a bonus co-op character for The Baconing, a PlayStation Home tchotchke for Bloodrayne: Betrayal, and some extra vehicles and weapons for Renegade Ops
PlayStation Plus subscribers get "an automatic 20% off every PLAY program purchase"
One final difference: Unlike Summer of Arcade, it doesn't appear any of these titles, short of Sony's own Payday: The Heist, have any exclusivity. We're following up with Sony and all of the individual publishers now.

And that's about it. Get the full details at that Source link below.

Source: Press release

DLC for 3S: Online? That's news to me.

I'm definitely picking up 3S, but don't really have an interest in the rest of the titles.

EDIT: Nevermind, the pre-order DLC character is Gill. You could already unlock him in the game previous, but I guess this makes it easier.

http://shoryuken.com/2011/08/05/pre-...o-unlock-gill/

With the 20% PS+ discount, it would be all five titles for $48. For that price, I'm willing to go all in (compared to $70 for six titles with XBLA Summer of the Arcade all-in deal, it seems like a bargain).

edit : Despite some dated graphics, PayDay :The Heist looks like it could be a LOT of fun:

<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gc752Yc0NAA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/A6coVINbzWA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

For the heck of it, I grabbed clips of the other four featured games.

Bloodrayne Betrayal gameplay
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rShV_Yd_CWE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Renegade Ops trailer
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AlkprnzkC-4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Street Fighter III Third Strike Online Edition trailer (spoilerized for obnoxiousness)

Developer Walkthrough
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XB_dN9xj5s4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The Baconing Daily Demo
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/K2FRQID61Mo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

PS+ members : The full-game sized Superstar V8 Racers ( complete with Platinum Trophy) is on sale for $2.50 this week. Didn't want the game last Fall for $19.99, but at this price, why not?

Also downloading Renegade Ops now, but it's a 2.7 GB file, so this might take a while.

I shouldn't have gone all-in with the PLAY promo. I have no real interest in The Baconing and while BloodRayne Betrayal is gorgeous, I find it near-impossible to play. It's so hard and frustrating. There's no reason they couldn't have made a lower difficulty, but they're just dicks. Shame on me for spending $12 each on those two. I just pray that The Heist is awesome because either way, I've already overpaid for it.

Just a quick update : I've been down on the PLAY games so far, but OMG, Renegade Ops is awesome! It looks great, controls like a dream and is a lot of fun. Tons of stuff to blow up and it all looks amazing. Five different characters each with their own. Special ability. I played a girl in a little jeep who calls in an air strike. I only p,Ayer for a few minutes, but it's a great game clearly. Thank God I like one besides Street Fighter 3.

That clip of Renegade Ops reminds me of the original Return Fire for the 3DO, in a good way. Just need the Ride of the Valkyries playing in the background as you are blowing things up.

Check out this extended clip:
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edit : that doesn't seem to work. Link here
http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-...e-ops/17-4672/

Does BloodRayne get a lot harder after the first level? The first level is pretty easy (and a lot of fun).

Yeah, it gets harder. A. Lot. HARDER!

I'm probably the wrong one to ask. I only tried it once and thought even the first level was pretty tough after a while.

I'm going to have to concur. As TSS's go this one is top notch. Most of those have no story, while this one isn't the best it is actually there. The action is pretty heavy and fun. I have to say that I like the chick with the air strike also.

There's this new PSN-exclusive game Rochard coming out today for $10. I hadn't heard anything about it, but according to this IGN review, it sounds pretty cool. Any game that gets compared to Shadow Complex immediately gets my attention.

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Just an update : I tried the very meaty Rochard demo and totally loved it. It's a very clever puzzler, set in a Shadow Complex type setting. It uses the gravity gun to solve puzzles. It wouldn't be fair to call it Portal-like (it's not that clever or original), but I think it's at least a little inspired by Portal and has some of that game's feel. I thought the game was easily worth the $7.99 PS+ price, so I bought it. At least check out the demo. I'm curious to see what others think of it.
And yeah, though the character models are nice and it's impressive to have so much vocal work, the hillbilly schtick gets old fast.

Did anybody else get to check out the demo of Sideway New York yet? It's one of the most unique and innovative platformers I've seen in a long time. The premise is that you're a graffiti artist who gets sucked into a void. You then play as a piece of graffiti art that navigates through 3D space on exclusively 2D planes -- moving around across the sidewalks, roofs and sides of buildings. It's a strange concept at first that takes a little time to grasp and it isn't long in the demo before some of the enemies you encounter get pretty difficult -- especially considering you only have two hit points. Not sure if I'm going to pick it up yet, but it's certainly worth checking out the demo. It's a trip.

Here's the trailer:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JNxOh2tEtoc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I downloaded the Sideway demo. It's very trippy... like an M.C. Escher video game. I like it. I'll probably pick up the full game.

New PixlJunk game comes out tomorrow : PixlJunk SideScroller. Probably not for me (didn't get into Shooter 2 at all), but some might enjoy it. Hope they at least put out a demo for it.

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