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Today in Gaming - 1/31/11

January 31, 2011 at 5:49 PM

As we're still recovering from all of the Next Generation Portable news last week, we learned a new tidbit today about how Sony will continue making money off of the PSP's games even after the NGP is released. We also saw Activision on the charitable side of things and learned the date of two new HD collections from Ubisoft.

The highlights from today's news:

Sony plans on re-releasing PSP games on the NGP's new memory card format.
The Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia HD collections are officially coming to the PlayStation 3 in March.
After initially filing a cease-and-desist, Activision is allowing a website to continue hosting multiplayer-enabled, HTML5 versions of some classic Sierra games.

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Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia HD Collections Coming to Disc

January 31, 2011 at 4:48 PM

Unsurprisingly, Ubisoft announced today that two new HD collections are in the works. The Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia series will each see a trilogy of its games re-released in high definition for the PlayStation 3. Both were rumored last year after retail listings popped up, with Ubisoft later confirming them.

Splinter Cell Classic Trilogy HD will include the original Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory all on one Blu-ray disc or as a download from the PlayStation Store. The 'classic' part of the title is most likely a clarification that it includes the first three games in the series rather than a suggestion that a second HD collection could be in the works. Three more Splinter Cell games have been released since Chaos Theory, but one (Conviction) was an exclusive to the Xbox 360 and PC and another (Essentials) was only for the PSP.

The games included in Prince of Persia Classic Trilogy HD -- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones -- have already been available in North America on the PlayStation Store since this past November. The upcoming release will see them be made available on a Blu-ray disc. As with the Splinter Cell collection, don't expect another HD collection of Prince of Persia games beyond this one because of the 'classic' in the title.

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Canceled Game 'Hero' Was Like inFamous Meets Crackdown

January 31, 2011 at 3:47 PM

One of the projects lost in the Midway bankruptcy two years ago was Hero, an open-world action game where you could design your own superhero. Aside from a piece of concept art that surfaced earlier this month, we've had very little information about the game. More recently, a 15-minute walkthrough video of the game has given us our first real glimpse of Hero, which is currently serving as the inspiration for its Phosphor Games-developed spiritual successor, Awakened.

Hero definitely looks very much like some of the open-world games we've seen over the past few years, such as Crackdown, inFamous, and Prototype. But development of Hero actually started in 2006, before any of those games were released, Chip Sineni told Gamasutra. Sineni worked on the game at Midway Chicago before it was canned.

The game tells the story of a major city in the United States that has been hit by a flood causing thousands to die. Some of the deceased come back to life with special powers, which is the role you assume, with the specifics of your character -- everything from the look to the style of play (stealth, melee-focused, or any number of other options) -- left up to you. Customization was a key element, and that's something being brought over to Awakened.

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Pokemon Black/White: How a Pokemon Comes to America

January 31, 2011 at 3:01 PM

Dragon Quest IX was an interesting test for Nintendo of America -- it was a chance to prove that a game with online features geared toward a densely populated commuter culture could work in North America; and after several GameStop giveaways and one massive showing at PAX, its efforts can be tentatively judged a success.

Now Nintendo has a chance to build on that approach with its own massively popular franchise: Pokémon.

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PS3 Save Games Headed to the Cloud

January 31, 2011 at 2:30 PM

Sony will soon introduce a new feature to the PlayStation 3 that will allow users to keep their save games stored in the cloud. That is to say, save games will be stored on Sony servers as opposed to your local hard drive. Kotaku reports that developers were recently informed of the impending introduction of the new functionality.

This is beneficial because it protects you against losing your save games in the case of having your hard drive break or PS3 stolen. It also potentially opens the door for you to be able to access your save games from any Internet-connected PS3.

The feature will not, however, be available to all users -- to take advantage of it, you'll need to be a PlayStation Plus member. Plus is Sony's premium PlayStation Network service that entitles subscribers to exclusive deals on PSN content, priority invitations to betas and demos, automatic downloads, and other perks.

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Activision Ban on Classic Sierra Games Lifted

January 31, 2011 at 2:00 PM

For almost two years, website Sarien.net has offered free browser versions of several old Sierra computer games including Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, and Space Quest. Adding a unique twist, it also allowed for a sort of multiplayer version that allowed you to play while also seeing what others players were doing.

As a website operating without the consent of IP owner Activision, a cease-and-desist seemed like an inevitability, something that designer Martin Kool acknowledged in a recent blog about the site's history. Following the development and release of an iPad-compatible version, Activision did indeed issue such a letter demanding that the development and distribution of these games be stopped.

Asked if there were any way for the website to continue on in a different form, Activision did something unexpected: It said yes. "Activision proposed to officially authorize Sarien.net to publish the first game of any series in its multiplayer HTML5 form," Kool wrote. There are two fairly reasonable caveats: The site will link to Steam and other places the games' full collections can be purchased, and the iPad-compatible versions will be removed.

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