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We’re excited to announce a new program called “Only On PSN,” which features brand new games that are exclusively available on PlayStation Network throughout October. Every week starting tomorrow, October 4, you will find new titles, unique to PSN that are part of this program – games that you’ve likely read about here on the PlayStation Blog, or seen during our showing at E3 2011. You may recall our announcement a few months ago about investing $20 million in exclusive PSN titles, and the Only On PlayStation Network program showcases two titles spawning from this investment: Eufloria and Okabu.

We can’t wait for you to get your hands on the Only On PSN games yourselves, so we’re giving you a few special offers throughout the course of the program. First, to sweeten the deal, we’ll be offering PlayStation Plus subscribers a 20% discount on each game during the first week of its availability.

Additionally, users who spend $60 or more out of their PlayStation Network/Sony Entertainment Network wallet through the month of October will get $10 back in November. This includes any of the Only On PSN games, purchases of games, add-ons, movies and TV shows in both the game and video sections of the PlayStation Store, your paid subscriptions for PlayStation Plus or Music Unlimited, movie rentals or purchases through Video Unlimited and any games or virtual items you buy in PlayStation Home.

Be sure to keep an eye on the PlayStation Twitter feed, as we’ll be giving away download codes for each game in the line-up every week. Don’t miss your chance to get this week’s Only On PSN games for free!

Now, let’s check out the games:

October 4:

• Eufloria – An addictive ambient game of space exploration and conquest, plant growth and bio-mechanical evolution. Explore a beautifully realized universe rendered in a style that is unique and compelling. Conquer asteroids in deep space and use their resources to literally grow and nurture semi-organic plants and creatures to do your bidding.
• Rochard – A fun and original space adventure game that features a resourceful hero, ominous villains, rugged machinery, big explosions, even bigger stunts and sharp one-liners. The game tests players’ coordination and wits as they use gravity to their advantage, changing it at will to solve environmental puzzles and advance through each level.

October 11:

• Sideway: New York – Help defeat Spray, a sinister tagger who wants to dominate both Sideway and the real world in this unique sidescroller that offers you the chance to leave your mark on the city.

October 13:

• Sodium Collection – A more than $35 value available for $9.99, this PlayStation Home value pack includes the SodiumOne Pilot’s Jacket, which unlocks the full 50-level tank combat Salt Shooter game, and weapon upgrades for your SodiumOne tank. Also included is a variety of upgrades for Sodium 2: Project Velocity, a high-speed, free-to-play, futuristic multiplayer racing game exclusive to PlayStation Home, and the wildly-popular Blaster’s Paradise personal space, which hosts a tabletop version of Salt Shooter. Buy from the PlayStation Store and play in PlayStation Home.

October 18:

• Okabu – An action-puzzler, where players will guide Kumulo, Nimbe and four cloud-flying heroes as they battle to save their people and their world from the industrialized threat of the Doza. Dive into a hyper-tactile toybox world filled with a huge number of puzzles, playthings, adorable creatures and devious machines spread across an epic co-op campaign.
• RocketBirds: Hardboiled Chicken – Annihilate an evil penguin regime in this cinematic platform adventure game offering full solo and co-op campaigns with stereoscopic 3D support. Destroy enemies with a slew of weapons and illuminate the secrets to his past while uncovering the real enemies of Albatropolis.

October 25:

• inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood – Vampires swarm New Marais, and revered superhero Cole MacGrath has been bitten. To save his soul and city, he has just one night to find and kill the head vampire. Featuring hours of new gameplay, themed environment settings and new characters/enemies, Festival of Blood explores the darker side of the inFAMOUS universe.
• PixelJunk Sidescroller – Q-Games goes old-school with a completely retro side-scrolling shooter that reinvents the genre from the ground up while maintaining that nostalgic feeling. Dodge flurries of alien bullets and strategically upgrade weapons while battling through sweeping stages full of hazardous fluid and endless shooting mayhem.

Also starting tomorrow as part of Only On PSN, we’ll also be offering a selection of rare classic games in the PlayStation Store: God Hand, GrimGrimoire, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, Odin Sphere and Ring of Red.

So head into the PlayStation Store tomorrow afternoon to check out Eufloria and Okabu, and don’t forget: If you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber, be sure to take advantage of the 20% discounts for the new games each week before we move onto the next week of Only On PSN titles. We hope you enjoy the month of October gaming with these exclusive titles on PSN!

If you’ve been following the development of Amy, you probably know that we’re trying to make a unique survival-horror game for PSN. As explained in my previous post, we’re working hard to bring a different gameplay based on a deep interaction between Lana, a young woman who is the lead character, and Amy, an eight year-old child, set in a horrific environment. Soon, we’ll give you many more details on some of the key elements of the gameplay.

But for now, we wanted to show you that, even for a downloadable game, we’re trying our best to bring you real flesh-and-blood characters. You can meet two of them in the new videos below.

First, a quick primer on the world of Amy. It’s 2035, and global warming has intensified beyond mankind’s control. Floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are claiming lives with increasing regularity. And in Silver City, the site of a recent comet impact, a mysterious viral outbreak has begun transforming a large percentage of the populace into horrific monstrosities. This is the final straw for Father John, a priest in Silver City: He’s convinced that the outbrerak is final proof that Armageddon is near. From his shelter-church, he tries to organize the human survivors to resist what he sees as a demonic invasion. The second character, Professor Raymond, is much more mysterious. Lana, the lead character of Amy, often refers to Raymond when speaking on the phone with another mysterious character, Lavigna – a woman she seems to rely on.

As you can see in the videos above, our goal is to create characters that convey emotions and that show their feelings physically, not just through dialogue or scenarios. Moreso than any other genre, horror games are based on what characters want – not just what they are doing.

For secondary characters, it might be ok to take a more traditional approach, to make them what you’d expect. But for the primary characters, facial features, expressions and the way they move are things we spent a lot of time on. Above all else, one of the most important aspects lies in their eyes. As you can see from the video, Father John’s eyes are not only highly detailed, but appear very human – at least, as close as we could get! And this is not just a technical and artistic challenge; the subtlety of human expression has a real impact in the game, especially for Amy and Lana.

As you probably already know, Amy is impaired – she doesn’t speak. Hence, in order for Amy to communicate with the player, her body language and facial expressions are of critical importance. If Amy sees a gruesome creature behind you, she won’t have to yell: you will know, just by looking at her face and body language, that she’s terrified.

Stay tuned for more details on Amy. In the meantime, support us on Facebook and check out the official website. See you soon!

Welcome to the latest view on upcoming releases for PlayStation Plus! Hopefully you’ve enjoyed your access to this month’s free PSN game Crash Commando that dropped this week on August 2nd. And with the August 9th Store Update, we’re not only bringing you free DLC for Crash Commando but also the SEGA Genesis Collection classic, Comix Zone, free and early for Plus!

Have a look at what’s coming and as always, drop us your feedback in the comments. Enjoy!

Here is the content list for August 9th and August 16th:

Last Chance Items – Coming Down Soon

We’re seeing loads and loads of new tracks popping up every day with all the recent DLC releases, but where will you find the time to browse them all? Good question. Why not let us do the “shopping” for you? For the next few weeks, Top Tracks will feature some great tracks we’ve collected using the new DLC. We’ll be searching for tracks featuring new content like Arctic, Western, Big City, Prehistoric, Alien (see below), and more. Who knows what we will find? Maybe we will locate a mashup of an Arctic Alien Waterpark! *fingers crossed*

Let us know if you find any recent gems using the new DLC worth promoting by visiting our forum post HERE.

Take a look at a few we found this week…

New DLC

Alien Invasion Mini Theme will be available to purchase in the PlayStation Store on July 5th for $6.99!

Let’s be honest here. If you’ve ever even attempted to build a track in ModNation Racers, you know that little nerdy 7-year-old inside all of us gets geeked up seeing his dream track come to life. Well that inner child may need to bust out the pull-up diapers when he sees the words UFO, Rocket Launcher, Slime, and Tractor Beam!

We expect to see some flat-out ridiculous tracks using this mini-theme. Remember that Mini Themes come with a lot more creation parts than Parts Packs do, so grab the Alien Invasion, put a track together, polish it up and let us know about it HERE. If it’s “out of this world!” (so sorry for that) maybe it will end up the DLC Showcase or even Hot Lap.

Upcoming DLC

Gladiator Parts Pack will be available to purchase in the PlayStation Store on July 12th for $4.99!

Medieval Mini Theme will be available to purchase in the PlayStation Store on July 19th for $6.99!

- We will pause the blog here for a second until we all get done drooling –

Recent DLC

Big City and Arctic Career Extension Packs are available for purchase in the PlayStation Store NOW for $9.99 each! Backburn Mod & his Kart are also available in the PlayStation Store. Mod & Kart are $1.75 together or $0.99 each.

The “Moddys” Celebrate “The Best Of The Rest”

This is the last week of the “Moddys” celebration. It’s been fun to look at some of the best creations of the past year; you’ll kick yourself if you don’t find the time to check them all out. Links to this week’s “Best of the Rest” and previous week’s winner can be seen HERE.

ModNation Racers Player Profile: wipeout_god

This week we feature one of the top racers in ModNation. His determination, passion for racing and desire to beat the best make him a staple of the Hot Lap leaderboards. Check out his story HERE.

Creations of the Week

Track of The Week: It’s A Tie!

Literally every track this week could have been Track of the Week. I struggled until the last second trying to choose a singular winner and I couldn’t do it. So I declare this week’s choice a tie, a dead heat. Congrats to both on your AWESOME tracks!

Ivo’s Snowboard Cross by IvoYaridovich
Modasaurus Rex by prob_alex

Hot Lap Tracks

Monday: Ivo’s Snowboard Cross by IvoYaridovich (an awesome track in every way! Check out the ski lifts. BRILLIANT!)
Tuesday: Modasaurus Rex by prob_alex (not just an EPIC dinosaur but a great designed track. One of prob_alex’s best IMHO)
Wednesday: Gridlock’d by atheistsw (fun, fast race through the city)
Thursday: Undergrowth by Blade133 (love the concept. In my favs list)
Friday: Bayshore Boulevard by PH1LThy31 (a classic tight race through a bayside city)
Saturday: Prehistoric Times by PH1LThy31 (felt like I was on a prehistoric movie set)
Sunday: Northgate Ski Resort by John31269 (we’re getting closer to my dream ski resort here)

Kart of the Week:

Bear Farting Rainbows by Yika (you had me at “farting”)

Our little big game is now on sale on the PlayStation Store! Under Siege is an action and strategy game in real time, where a small group of heroes fight against a huge invading army. We developed Under Siege to be played with the DualShock 3 controller and it also supports the PlayStation Move motion controller. We also boost lots of cool features like video recording, custom music, and video chat. The game even runs in full 1080p in Dolby Digital 5.1.

Under Siege is now available for $19.99 ($10.00 for PlayStation Plus users) and suppers six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. It includes a full campaign, two-player multiplayer online and local play, and the same Editor used by us to create the game itself.

The Editor is one of the most important features we put in Under Siege. We started production on it before making the game so we that made sure our level designers created everything directly on a PS3 with a DualShock 3. This way, it was possible to keep on upgrading and improving the features and usability while the game was being made.

Currently the Editor has many tools that enable varied things such as:

• Sculpting and painting the terrain
• Adding water to create rivers and lakes
• Changing lighting intensity, colour, position and other effects
• Placing and rotating props like trees, houses, walls and more
• Placing units and determine their AI, line of sight, colour and team
• Creating cutscenes with your own lines of text and many different characters
• Above all, creating your own logic with a simple trigger system that allows for the creation of new types of levels, modes and even totally different gameplay.

We also included a Manual that is accessible at all times. To make it easier for everyone to use we are making it available as a PDF. You can download it or print it in PDF form, either the pretty version or a printer-friendly version.

The team is also putting together some video tutorials that will help out in creating content.
Talk to us in our forums, and get more information at the official website. Check out the free comic book while you’re at it!

See you online!