Full Title: Max Payne 3
Developer: Rockstar Vancouver, New England, London and Toronto studios.
Publisher: Rockstar
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: March 2012

I’m a huge fan of the Max Payne games. The gritty neo-noir third person shooter quickly became one of my favourite PS2 games, and I have since bought the games on Steam to relive Remedy’s awesome contribution to last gen. I was happy when I learned that the franchise was making a comeback, and although Remedy aren’t behind this one, the game is in good hands with Rockstar who put out quality titles consistently. According to Rockstar’s Sam Houser, it is their intention on starting a new chapter of Max Payne’s life with the game.

“This is Max as we’ve never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever.” Says Houser

Of course no Max Payne game is complete without Bullet Time, so of course this is back and better than ever. There is also something known as “Last Man Standing” which gives Max a reprieve from death for a small period if he’s got one painkiller on him. If the player is able fill the enemy that delivered the wounding shot with bullets he’ll recover enough energy to soldier on. This with the shoot dodge being brought back better than ever (allowing you to stay grounded, shooting from the floor after you land) ensures that Max will be taking out the baddies in style.

The games’s scheduled for release in March 2012 – but until then look out for tons of exclusive Max Payne related content from us (hint hint).

Media

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!

Area/Code Games, responsible for the games “Drop7,” “Parking Wars” and “CSI: Crime City,” has been acquired by Zynga and renamed to Zynga New York.

In a blog post from the company today, Area/Code affirmed that current leadership will remain in place. They also expressed some level of excitement about the acquisition, basically stating that Zynga is at the top of their game and that things are pretty much going to be awesome for them. They expressed a desire to want to continue to build awesome games, and hopefully that will continue.

(Zynga, not coincidentally, now needs new team members in New York.)

Of course, now I just have to wonder how long it’ll be before Drop7 is on Facebook and I lose all hint of productivity.

I meant to share these two links with you forever ago, but I kept getting distracted by Pokemon Spirit comics, Love Plus Christmas dates, and other easy posts that wrote themselves. Enjoy these stale articles!

• JC wrote an excellent Holiday Buyer’s Guide for DSiWare, WiiWare, and Virtual Console titles at Joystiq. Christmas is already long behind us, barely visible in the horizon, but it’s still a great collection of quality releases on Nintendo’s download platforms. Also, if anyone gifted you Nintendo Points cards, here’s how to spend them!
• And I published an obligatory Top 5 list for the year’s best DS and PSP releases at Gamasutra. I was happy to spotlight a couple games that most sites neglected to include in their own end-of-year lists.

Yay for people employing us.

Buy: Special Edition Red Nintendo DSi XL bundle, DSi XL (Blue, Burgundy, & Bronze), Standard DSi (White, Pink, Black, & Blue), Standard DSi Orange & Green bundles

See also: More DSiWare and WiiWare posts

Namco Bandai Games America was created long ago to bring video games like Pac-Man to America. Namco Networks America was created to work on mobile and social games.

Now the two will combine into one company to merge and take advantage of the talent each of them have in the mobile and console space.

“We strive to make games accessible to gamers across multiple platforms. Combining the companies’ deep pools of talent and resources is the best way for us to achieve our goal of broadening our consumer base,” said Kenji Hisatsune, President, CEO and COO of Namco Networks. “I am very excited about uniting these dynamic groups and look forward to delivering top-notch content that’s appropriate for multiple gaming platforms and communities.”