Playstation Now – Sony’s game streaming service goes live today

Posted on January 14, 2015 by afterdarkgaming

The subscription service is currently available on PS4 across North America with two subscription plans.

Playstation Now offers over 100 PS3 games (with so many more on the way) with two types of plans that are being offered: one month for $19.99 or a three-month package for $44.99 (about $15 per month).

For now Playstation Plus is available for PS3 and PS4 users with more devices being added later including Playstation Vita and Playstation TV. A free PlayStation Now theme is now available for PS4 users as well If you download the theme before January 31. Doing this gets you automatically entered into a drawing for a chance to win a one-year subscription to PlayStation Now.

Confused?

Don’t be, those that are still slightly confused about so many subscription services should take note that Playstation Now and Playstaion Plus are seperate services entirely.

In addition to monthly subscriptions, remember that there are also a variety of rental options available. The PS Now rental catalog already has 200+ games with games being added weekly. Most games can be rented for about $1 a day for a week, or you can choose from 4-hour, 30 day and 90 rental periods available for most games. Either you choose to rent or subscribe to get instant access to an all-you-can-play catalog of 100+ PS3 games.

Start your 7-day free trial here

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Fat Princess: Piece of Cake is now Free on PS Vita!

Posted on January 14, 2015 by afterdarkgaming

You can now rescue the princess on Playstation Vita, iOS and Android for Free. Fat Princess: Piece of Cake includes a brand-new strategic match-three game.

Fat Princess:Piece of Cake has been available on iOS and Android for a while now but is now available for the PS Vita. The game has well over 55 levels which spread across 5 different landscapes. You will use your red army to attempt to smash through the Blue army with 4 different character classes to choose from. The PS Vita version also supports Trophies.

Gameplay is quite simple and easy to learn but you’ll need to strategically upgrade your characters – the Knights attack single enemies for high damage, a Ranger whose gun can blast enemies in the front row, a Demolition specialist with bombs to stun all enemies, and a Wizard to heal your troops.

But what about the Princess?

The game isn’t called “Fat Princess” for nothing…the princess is hungry, really hungry, feed cake to the princess by matching special tiles to unleash her devastating slam attack, trigger massive combos to save the day and her Kingdom.

The mobile version offers the game for Free when you reach level 15. For this you must have an active Facebook account to receive the voucher code and you will also need a valid Sony Entertainment Network account to redeem that voucher code to download the game to your PS3 console.

Yea, but is it really free?

“Fat Princess: Piece of Cake is a free-to-play game set in an incredible universe and can be played without making in-app purchases, however some in-game items such as power-ups and character upgrades can be acquired through in-app purchases”

36% of US plays downloaded games

Posted on February 23, 2014 by afterdarkgaming

Digital distribution becoming more common, 16% of population has ditched physical media for games entirely.

Digital distribution is increasingly becoming an accepted, and in some cases demanded, way for Americans to get their games, according to NPD Group data released today from its Exploring Digital Gaming report.

Based on a recent survey of more than 6,000 people in the US ages 13 and older, the group reported that 36 percent of the US population plays downloaded games on either a computer, console, or dedicated handheld gaming device like a 3DS or PlayStation Vita. A little less than half of that group has abandoned physical media entirely, as 16 percent said they only play digitally distributed games.

As for preferences, gamers were generally split. When both physical and digital versions of a game are available for the same price, 25 percent of respondents said they would take the digital version, compared to 30 percent who would opt for the physical copy. The remaining 45 percent were unsure of their preference.

The PC is far and away the most popular platform for digital distribution, with 90 percent of the NPD’s “digital gamers” reporting that they downloaded games for the computer. On the other hand, only 28 percent of digital gamers download games for consoles. And while two-thirds of console gamers said they download titles multiple times a year, only 14 percent do so on a monthly basis.

NPD analyst Liam Callahan said the digital movement has also driven more impulse purchases.

“Most digital players, regardless of device, don’t plan their purchases,” said Callahan. “They purchase simply when they find something they like. But primary console players do have a greater tendency to purchase at or before the time of release relative to PC players. As more consumers purchase the new consoles (Xbox One, PlayStation 4), we expect to see greater digital spending from digital console gamers as consumers indicated that purchasing these consoles will most likely increase their digital spending.”

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Xbox One beats PS4 sales at Walmart, Target.

Posted on December 2, 2013 by afterdarkgaming

InfoScout finds Microsoft systems take 61% share of console sales at retailers on Black Friday.

The Xbox One was the best-selling game hardware at Walmart and Target on Black Friday, according to retail research firm InfoScout. According to a post on the company blog, Microsoft’s new console accounted for 31 percent of console sales at the retailers on Friday, outpacing the PlayStation 4’s 15 percent share, which was only enough to make it the fourth best-selling system of the day.

The Xbox 360, bolstered by a $99 sale price at Walmart, was the second-best-seller of Black Friday, accounting for 30 percent of systems sold. The PS3, which was less heavily discounted at $149, was third with a 15 percent share of consoles sold. Nintendo brought up the rear, with the Wii U accounting for just 6 percent of sales, while the original Wii scraped out a 1 percent share.

InfoScout attributed much of the Xbox family’s success to supply constraints on the PS4 and the deeply discounted Xbox 360 price. According to a survey of Black Friday receipts from 5,000 InfoScout panelists, the Xbox One was the sixth best-selling item at Walmart, behind a trio of TVs, an HP laptop, and a $300 16GB Apple iPad Mini, which ordinarily sells for $320.

PS4 is now fastest selling console ever in UK

Posted on December 2, 2013 by afterdarkgaming

Launch week push sees Sony dominate multi-platform titles

Sony’s PS4 has become the UK’s fastest-selling console at retail, surpassing the previous record held by the PSP. The new record was attributed by the Chart Track figures for last week’s UK sales, but doesn’t detail actual sell-through figures for the machine.

The impact of the new machine is evident in the sales breakdown of individual titles on the UK chart, however, as Sony’s machine outsold other platforms on nearly every multiplatform title. Nonetheless, this week’s number one, Call of Duty: Ghosts sold best on the huge install base of the Xbox 360, which took 37 per cent of total sales compared to the PS4’s 28, the PS3’s 21 and the Xbox One’s 12 per cent.

Last week’s top dog, fellow hardy perennial FIFA, slipped down to number two in this week’s chart, but showed a huge swing towards PS4, which accounted for a massive 42 per cent of total sales. Xbox 360 took 22 per cent, Xbox One 19 and PS3 14 per cent. Whilst that lion’s share is an impressive statistic, it should be remembered that it is at least partly due to Microsoft bundling FIFA in with pre-orders of its machine at launch.

Showing even greater favouritism, and with no such caveat, was Battlefield 4, half of all sales of which were made on the new PlayStation. Xbox 360 made up a 21 per cent share, with PS3 following on 13 per cent and Xbox One making up the final 12 per cent. Killzone: Shadowfall is unsurprisingly the highest charting platform exclusive this week, securing fourth place just above Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 4.

To find the next single platform title, you’ll need to track all the away down to thirteenth place, where the poorly-reviewed Knack sits just above fellow new release and platform exclusive Super Mario 3D World – a relatively grim prognosis for Nintendo’s console and flagship franchise.