Joystiq [PlayStation]

Pedro F. asks: What is going to happen with the PS3 MGS4 80GB Bundle? I'm really worried about it because I was saving all year long for a trip to the US in October to (among other things) get my PS3, which by the way I want to get with BC because I have tons of PS1 and 2 games that I still want to play. I don't have space for both PS2 and PS3 at the same time in my room (I even sold my PS2), so I was really excited about the MGS4 pack.
PS3F answers: Bad news Pedro. The 80GB MGS4 bundle will be the last SKU to have BC, and it will be replaced by the 160GB PS3 bundle that comes with a voucher for PAIN and a copy of Uncharted. It'll be replaced officially in November and most likely the MGS4 bundle has already been discontinued. It'll probably be very difficult to find one now, unless you check eBay. Good luck.

Abebe T. asks: I recently bought a PlayStation 3 (MGS4 bundle, if that makes a difference) and I've noticed that it makes a noticeable sound while in standby mode (red light). My PS3 is in my room and although this noise is relatively very quiet, it bothers me while I'm trying to sleep. As a result, I'm forced to turn it fully off using the power switch on the back. It seems like the system was designed to simply be put into standby and only turned fully off once in a while. Is it harmful to the system to be turning it off and on like this every day?
PS3F answers: It is not harmful, so you can keep doing that. However, you might want to take your system to Sony and have it checked. The PS3 should not be making any noises while in standby. Essentially, the machine should not be working out any processes and should not be doing anything. So anything other than silence and a red light is very odd.

Dillon A. asks: I was wondering if the latest updates for Blu-ray players are included in the latest PS3 Firmware updates? Or do we have to download them separately?
PS3F answers: Blu-ray support will be updated in regular PS3 Firmware updates. It's good to know that things are simplified like that, eh?


Bruno N. asks: Will online ranks from Resistance carry over to Resistance 2?
PS3F answers: We asked this question for you at the recent R2 event. Insomniac says it's not going to happen.

Michael H. asks: Now that Rock Band is coming out with more metal bands (Devildriver, Machinehead and Megadeth) is there some way to plug in two kicks, because these bands use a lot of double bass and that would be really cool to do.

Tom B. asks: Will the current Rock Band DLC be downloadable directly to Rock Band 2? I know there's a transfer for people who have Rock Band, but what if Rock Band 2 is the first game I buy?
PS3F answers: Okay, it works like this. When you buy DLC tracks, you install them onto your hard drive. They will remain there as part of your "game data" and will work with both titles. So whether you put in an RB or RB2 disc, both games will pick up the songs stored on the hard drive.

Christian S.: What happened to Rat Race? The episodic comedy game that was announced on the US PlayStation Blog in October last year seems to have gone missing. It was supposed to be beginning 'this winter' last October so that is a rather long delay.
PS3F answers: We regretfully inform you that this title is canceled.


titus3n5 asks: Is there a PS3 Fanboy mobile in the works? If not are you guys planning on there being one? that would be the awesomest!
PS3F answers: We have a few mobile versions out there. We've got two that you can check out:

• iPhone/iPod Touch - http://i.ps3fanboy.com
• Standard Mobile - http://m.ps3fanboy.com

The same goes with PSP Fanboy, but just switch the 3 to a P and you're good as gold. Enjoy PS Fanboy on the go!

Kyle T. asks: Really, how hard is it to implement Trophies in a PS3 game? I read that Bethesda is going to leave out Trophies in Fallout 3 -- is this a result of Microsoft making an "agreement" with them to keep the awards solely on the 360, or is it really that difficult to translate the 360 Achievements over to the PS3?
PS3F answers: It has nothing to do with Microsoft or Achievements, so please don't look at it that way. In the case of Fallout 3, you need to remember that this game has been in development way longer than the appearance of Trophies; Achievements were always going to be in it because they've been around for a long time already and probably have been part of the plan since the beginning of development. Trophies are new and were introduced probably by the time Bethesda was moving on to polish and fine tuning everything -- it's quite too late to put in new code.

Think about Jeopardy!; the title doesn't have Trophy support yet but the in-game awards certainly would make good XMB Trophies. So why then did it not have Trophies? This is a PS3-exclusive ... can't be Microsoft's fault now can it? It all really has to do with the development schedule; developers need to meet certain milestones in order to keep their games on track and out on time for you. Adding new code for Trophies and working out the connectivity to the PSN etc etc obviously will be time consuming (implementation and testing). If Trophies are going to interfere with that sched, then there's no way these developers can stop everything they're doing and put in the feature.

Sean E. asks: Is Afrika a.k.a (Hakuna Matata) coming to North America? And do you think it is the type of game that is worthy of a worldwide release?
PS3F answers: Well, looking back to this Japanese commercial, it seems the Japanese themselves were conscious of the fact that Afrika would probably not be for everyone. SCEE have also said that the game won't be released in Europe, and a North American release seems rather unlikely at this point. We haven't yet played it but it does seem like an interesting -- if not novel -- experience.