Official stores break street date for Final Fantasy X/X-2 on Vita?

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes gets released early here, now this? Final Fantasy X/X-2 is now officially available on Datablitz and Games One Gadget for the PS3, but the Vita version of the game is meant for release tomorrow. So what do retail stores do? They break the street date for the Vita version and release it together with the PS3 version. Nice.

Officially, the PS3 version's release date is today, and it seems the PS Vita version's release date is tomorrow. Apparently other offical retailers released it today, forcing Games One Gadget Store to release it as well.

You might be thinking- It's just a day, no big deal. But if only one store is selling copies of the game, how about the others? Of course the flock would go to who's selling earlier and that's a big deal.  There's a reason street dates exists. Oh, and the source of these products won't be happy with this kind of move.

We are also being told that Sony PH is requesting retail stores to stop selling the PS Vita version and wait for tomorrow. We are waiting for confirmation  to confirm this information.

Why is this a concern? Because why break street dates? Just to get ahead? These retail stores will get sanctioned for doing this and in the end we'll be affected by their sudden moves. I'm all for getting a game as early as possible, but if it results in creating a bad reputation for the community here between publishers and gaming companies, it's better to just stay true to the planned release.

Based on PlayStation Asia, the official release for the Vita version is on the 19th.

This is the second time within a month. What do you think about stores breaking street dates?

Source: Game One Gadget Store FB

[Updated]Sony looks back at the evolution of PlayStation

[UPDATE] - A new video was released which focuses on the classic games of PlayStation.

Ever since Sony informed the world that they have a big announcement planned on February 20, they have been releasing YouTube videos looking back at the history of PlayStation,  making it more clear that this big meeting happening this week could potentially be the next PlayStation console reveal. Each video gives us a quick history lesson of how PlayStation has evolved through the years, talking about each hardware released so far.

The Beginning

PlayStation 2

PlayStation Portable and Playstation Vita

PlayStation 3

Evolution of PlayStation: Games

Sony is keeping quiet about this February 20 announcement but it's pretty clear at this point that we'll be seeing the next PlayStation. If not, then they sure fooled us. The PlayStation 3 was released in 2005, so another console coming in on 2013 sounds about right, what's surprising is that it's rumored to be available at the end of the year.

I'm ready for another PlayStation console. While I do think the PlayStation 3 has a couple of years left, It's about time we see a glimpse on how the next generation of gaming would look like in the future. For me, as long as it's not motion control heavy and still requires you to have a controller to play, I'm all good.

This big announcement is coming on February 20, 6PM Eastern Standard Time, which is February 21 at 6 AM in the Philippines.

[Source: Playstation US]

Silent Hill: Book of Memories launch trailer

Konami released a launch trailer for Silent Hill: Book of Memories. Book of Memories is considered a spin-off, so don't expect the usual Silent Hill survival horror. It's a PS Vita exclusive and this is the first ever Silent Hill game that has a co-op feature, that and a camera angle that I do not like one bit. Have a look at the trailer below.

This is not a Silent Hill game at all. So fans of the series will be very disappointed. The best way to look at this game is to completely forget that it's a Silent Hill game.If yo're looking for a new co-op game to play with friends, this might fly, but at first glance, it seems rough around the edges.

Oh and just in case you missed the E3 trailer...

Silent Hill: Book of Memories comes out on October 16 exclusively for the PS Vita.

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale gets delayed, but new characters confirmed, Vita port comes free with PS3 version

All the new info about PS All-Stars in one post. Originally planned to release at the end of October, Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale gets pushed back to November 20. The reason for the delay are the usual - Game polish and balancing. Don't go all bummed out though, a new trailer was just released during Gamescom 2012 confirming new characters joining the roster.

New Characters confirmed:

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Main Event Trailer

Adding Ape Escape's Spike was a great choice for a game like this. Sackboy and Rachet and Clank were no brainers really. DmC's Dante, I still wish it was the old Dante look.

Have a look at the new characters in action. Sony released trailers for each new character similar to how Capcom revealed each new character from Marvel vs Capcom 3.

Spike trailer

Ratchet and Clank

DmC's Dante trailer

Sackboy trailer

The leaked information taken from the game's beta seems to be somewhat accurate at this point

Sony also mentioned that purchasing the PS3 version(either retail or download) of the game grants you the Vita version of the game for free. Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale will feature cross-platform play allowing PS3 players and Vita players to play with each other. Pretty neat feature. If they implement this to future Sony titles, players will have a good reason to get their own Vita.

[Source: PS Blog US]

Soul Sacrifice - A twisted PS Vita action horror game

Soul Sacrifice. An action horror game coming to the PS Vita. If you actually have a list of games you can't wait to get for your Vita, maybe you should also add this into your list. It's from the mind of Keiji Inafune, one of the creators of Mega Man that apparently has a twisted mind to conceptualize a game like this.

You play as a Sorcerer's slave, who is now in prison to be sacrificed to some demon. he then finds a book containing someones journal and I believe that's where he starts reading of this guy's rebellion again this sorcerer and the demons. That's what I understand so far about the game's story but the interesting thing about Soul Sacrifice is that in order for players to use specific abilities or magic, they need to make a sacrifice.

Soul Sacrifice - Teaser trailer 

What the character did in the teaser is pretty much him sacrificing his own spine to wield that creepy looking sword named Excalibur. Problem is, no spine = death. That's pretty much the core concept on the game's gameplay - Sacrificing game environments and even parts of your body to use certain abilities. Sacrificing your own blood, your eyes, fingers, and certain objects in the environment can be sacrificed to perform certain magics. Pretty interesting stuff.

Soul Sacrifice will also support 4 player co-op. Everybody loves co-op and I'm sure this will be the game's biggest selling point. I wonder if you can sacrifice your own teammate though?

The game so far looks amazing on the Vita. That handheld sure has a lot of power in it. A presentation was held showcasing the game and thanks to Sony, they released a dubbed version of that presentation for the people who don't speak Japanese. Best parts are really Part 1 and 2 since you actually see gameplay of the game. If music is your thing, you might get a kick of part 2 of the presentation.

Soul Sacrifice Presentation Part 1 - Story, concept, offscreen single player gameplay

Soul Sacrifice Presentation Part 2 - Sound score, game sound

Soul Sacrifice Presentation Part 3 - 4 player co-op

It was just revealed in Japan on May 10 and so far, no word if this game will receive an english version. I have no doubt it will get an english port, the question now is when will it happen?

Screenshots:

Source: [Famitsu]