Andrew Yoon
New York, NY - http://playstation.joystiq.com
After a fairly lengthy stint as a Community Manager, maintaining websites for Konami, Square, Namco, and others, I became absorbed by the Joystiq crew, and work blog full-time. I was the lead of the PlayStation Fanboy sites, and currently operate as the Joystiq Network East Coast Editor.
- Noteworthy games: Ikaruga (DC), Pokemon (GB), Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64), Half-Life 2 (PC), Metal Gear Solid (PS), God of War II (PS2), Resident Evil 4 (GC), Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA), Otogi (XB), Chrono Trigger (SNES), Gitaroo-Man Lives! (PSP), Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (DS), Braid (360), Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii), Everyday Shooter (PS3)
EMAIL: andrew @ joystiq .com
PSN/XBL: scxzor
by Andrew Yoon 
{ 2 days ago } 
Have you tried out
Echoshift, the excellent new puzzle game for PSP? Whether or not you've bought the game, SCEA has a pretty sweet deal for you to take advantage of. Starting later today (once the
PSN update is live), current owners and new purchasers will be able to get an additional set of seven levels absolutely free. For current owners of
Echoshift, you'll be able to find it by searching for "
Echoshift" in the PlayStation Store.
New purchasers will be able to take advantage of the promotion by simply buying a new bundle -- which includes both the original game and additional levels -- from the PlayStation Store for $14.99. This is a limited time offer, so if you want to take advantage of this deal, you'll need to act before April 1st.
by Andrew Yoon { 2 days ago } 
Now that PlayStation Home is
twelve million strong, Sony is looking for community volunteers to help newcomers ease their way into the PS3 virtual world. Applicants need to be "friendly and knowledgeable" as they help new users navigate the various community events available online. According to a recent call for applicants, the program "offers a great outlet to the most passionate Home users to help give back to the community."
To submit an
application, you must be at least 18 years old, a resident of the US, and have "dependable access to email and Internet." Also, not only will you need to describe your most embarrassing PlayStation Home experience, you'll also have to answer this very telling question: "Do you have more friends in real life or in Home? Which do you prefer?" Don't worry, you should answer truthfully. We won't judge you.
by Andrew Yoon { 2 days ago }
While the Joystiq staff hasn't experienced a game-ending
Heavy Rain crash, there are a number of vocal members of the PlayStation forums that have reported some serious issues, most notably save file corruption. Quantic Dream is working on a new patch for the adventure game, one that "address a range of minor issues," but isn't "targeted purely at the issues reported." According to
Sam_Protagonist, SCEE has had difficulty in reproducing the reported bugs, but hopes that the patch should fix various "contributing factors" that may be at the root of
Heavy Rain's issues. "We're optimistic that this patch resolves your problems but cannot guarantee that this will be the case."
Development on the patch is now complete, and is undergoing the "final stages of testing." Let's hope the patch actually does its job -- otherwise, angry
Heavy Rain owners will be left with nothing to play but
Press X to Jason.
[Via
VG247]
by Andrew Yoon { 3 days ago }
Tired of yelling CROSS GAME CHAT into every post on the PlayStation.Blog? Thankfully, there's a new venue for you to take advantage of.
PlayStation.Blog Share lets fans submit requests and vote on new features to implement across Sony's family of consoles. The requests range from the ever-popular
cross game chat option to more
specific options, like enabling PSP Remote Play of PS2 games.
It's certainly an interesting social experiment, but we wonder if fans will see any requests (large or small) come to fruition. At the very least, Share gives Sony the appearance of listening, and should reduce the obnoxious comment spam that oftentimes clutters the PlayStation.Blog.
by Andrew Yoon { 3 days ago }
Are you working your way to a Platinum in
God of War III? You may want to check out this video, which helps you net Hit Man, one of the more challenging Trophies in the game. To get the award, you must perform a 1000 hit combo. Should your fighting skills not be up to snuff, there are two easy (but time consuming) ways of getting the achievement. It can take upwards of 20 minutes of mindless button mashing, but it's a sure-fire way of making sure you get the Bronze Trophy.
Check out the (rather cheap) strategies after the break.
[Via
N4G]
Continued →
by Andrew Yoon { 3 days ago }
With
Final Fantasy XIII finally done and in stores, Square Enix fans are now scouring the internet for the next big project in the
Final Fantasy series: The still-PS3-exclusive
Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Character designer and director Tetsuya Nomura was interviewed on Twitter, an appropriate venue that forces brevity and a general lack of detail. According to Nomura (as translated by
Andriasang), "
not everything is connected together" in Versus, "so the various areas have different levels of progress." He did manage to reveal at least two facts about the upcoming game: "You can fly across the world map in an air ship."
Adding both world maps and controllable air ships should help appease Final Fantasy fans disappointed by their absence in XIII. While Versus represents a spin-off for the franchise, it sounds like it may be closer to a traditional FF experience than its counterpart. For hardcore Square Enix fans, that news alone should be enough to restart the long wait to the next Final Fantasy game.
by Andrew Yoon { 5 days ago }
Tales of Phantasia may become one of the few titles to be re-released
twice on a single platform. In 2006, Namco Bandai launched an updated version of the classic SNES RPG for PSP (although it never found a Stateside release), and now it looks to be releasing that same game one more time.
Thankfully,
Tales of Phantasia X won't just be the original game in a shinier box. In addition to a remake of
Tales of Phantasia, the pack will include the
Narikiri Dungeon sequel.
Phantasia X is planned for release later this year, roughly fifteen years after the original's debut.
[Via
Andriasang]
by Andrew Yoon { 11 days ago }
Don't want to wait for a Blu-ray disc from
Netflix? Wish you could watch an HD program instantly (provided your internet connection is robust enough)? The PlayStation Store will be updated today with HD movies for purchase from all six major studios. Previously, movies for purchase were relegated to SD options, whilst HD movies were available exclusively for rent. According to a press release from SCEA, "PlayStation Network is the first to offer high definition movies for purchase from all of the major movie studios," including 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal, and Warner Bros.
The HD update will be available today on the PlayStation Store in the US, with "plans to launch soon in the U.K., France, Germany, and Spain." (Sorry, Canada!) While we still prefer owning Blu-ray discs, this downloadable option is yet another way for people to access content.
by Andrew Yoon { 15 days ago }
It's been nearly two years since EA Sports
called it quits on the NASCAR franchise (a little less if you count
NASCAR Kart Racing). NASCAR gamers are growing impatient and, for better or for worse, will have to wait for the
perpetually-delayed Gran Turismo 5 to get their NASCAR fix.
At the very least, fans can take comfort in knowing that Blake Davidson, managing director of licensed products at NASCAR, has incredible faith in the game. "They're going to do it better than anybody's ever done it before," he stated in a video posted on the
PlayStation.Blog. "It's really the next step for us, it's the best depiction of what NASCAR cars are in any driving game to date." Certainly a bold statement, considering NASCAR is just
one feature in the racer.
According to Davidson, one of the reasons why NASCAR teamed up with Polyphony Digital is the recommendation of one of the sports most famous racers today. "Dale Earnhardt, Jr. himself actually came to us and said 'you really need to look at Polyphony Digital. They're a great developer, the best in the world at what they do.'"
Continued →
by Andrew Yoon { 15 days ago }
The DS has been gifted with games that force players to hold the system in all sorts of weird ways:
upside down,
to the side, and sometimes even
completely closed. PSP is joining the play-your-system-the-wrong-way trend with the newly announced
Advance! Protect! Fight!. According to
Andriasang, you hold the system vertically. The analog stick is used to move the cursor, with the R button used to click. Essentially, it's meant to simulate a mouse.
Advance! Protect! Fight! should be interesting to play on the PSP Go. In fact, you could probably play the game with just one hand with the Go. Too bad
Tecmo couldn't think of this control scheme first, right?
by Andrew Yoon { 15 days ago }
Like good, sane people, our friends at AOL Radio are huge fans of
God of War. They've not only managed to add the entire
God of War III original soundtrack to the Video Games Score station, but they're also giving away a free downloadable MP3 from the upcoming PS3 game. "Brothers of Blood," composed by Cris Velasco, has everything you'd expect from a
God of War instrumental track: a brass-heavy orchestral score with dramatic choral singing.
Should you want your morning commute to get a little more vengeance-y, head over to the
AOL Radio blog to download the MP3 onto your favorite MP3 player.
by Andrew Yoon { 17 days ago }
There may be a disappointing lack of beer and laser-shooting owls in this new set of screenshots from
The Flying Hamster. But don't worry, the game still looks absolutely insane. The upcoming side-scrolling shooter for the PSP stars -- what else? -- an adorable flying hamster, as he makes his way through levels clearly designed by a
Mad Libs book. Seriously, what's going on in this image? We have no idea.
Check out the rest of the images in our gallery below.
The Flying Hamster should be available for download via the PlayStation Network later this year.
by Andrew Yoon { 18 days ago }
It looks like the PlayStation "Virtual Console" is expanding beyond
PSone and
TurboGrafx-16 games.
Siliconera spotted updates to a number of classic NeoGeo titles, including
Metal Slug,
The King of Fighters '94 and
Fatal Fury. All of these titles have been re-rated to include the PS3 and PSP.
Other NeoGeo games to appear on the ESRB database include
Alpha Mission II and
Baseball Stars 2. Like the listings above, these games also support both the PS3 and PSP. Hopefully, these downloadable NeoGeo games will feature the same functionality as PSone classics, specifically the ability to download to
both the PS3 and PSP for no additional charge.
by Andrew Yoon { 19 days ago }
Perhaps the most significant complaint against early PSP games was about lengthy load times. Modern PSP games have largely alleviated this problem, sometimes with the help of a middleware solution from CRI called "File Majik Pro." If that sounds familiar, its because the same tech was made available for PS3 developers
two years ago.
The tech allows developers to better compress files, and rearranges data in the most efficient way possible. It also offers the ability to install data onto the Memory Stick, for quicker loads on UMD-based games. Already, major PSP games have taken advantage of the tech, including
Persona 3 Portable,
Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, and
Valkyria Chronicles 2.
So, how will players be able to identify PSP games that take advantage of this technology? One way is to look for the "
Criware" logo on the box. It's likely you've seen their logo load before a game -- and now you know what they do.
[Via
Siliconera]
by Andrew Yoon { 19 days ago }
Although it commanded a large presence at E3, Sony has been otherwise quiet about
God of War III. With the game's release only weeks away, Sony has opened the floodgates, revealing
new footage, highlighting
new levels, and most importantly, advertising the game on TV. The European markets are treated to an ad which simply states "Revenge Starts Here." The ad doesn't need a gimmick: it simply relies on real-time footage of the game.
Check it out after the break.
[Via
TheSixthAxis]
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