It’s my pleasure to tell you that Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken is coming to the PS Vita in the first quarter of 2013!
Rocketbirds, our cinematic platform adventure game, has come a long way from its three IGF finalist nominations back in 2010. Since then, we listened to people’s feedback and vastly improved the game for its PS3 release in October 2011. That version had more technical improvements than we could shake a stick at; we made it fast and included stereoscopic 3D, added a new Jet Pack mode, a two-player couch co-op campaign and polished the heck out of it. We received more great feedback, so when it came down to the PS Vita version, we jumped at the opportunity to iterate on the game once more. We added things like new chapters, puzzles and humor; a unique new Hardboiled difficulty setting; improvements to the controls to utilize the PS Vita’s unique features; and improved connectivity for the cooperative campaign.
From the beginning, I’ve really wanted to include these large Orwellian video panels where a boss character would be able to literally talk down at his underlings. For the PS Vita release, we created a couple of huge new chapters from scratch to house these animated panels. I think there’s something funny about such overcompensation. Now that we’ve managed to get them in the game I’m trying to figure out how to install some here at the office.
Inspired by Mega64’s take on “IndieFilms: Rocketbirds”, we took the idea of stabbing a Penguin grunt and incorporated it into a new Hardboiled difficulty setting. In this mode, you’ll be expected to take down the Penguin regime with just a pea shooter and a very large knife.
The game supports the PS Vita’s front touch screen and rear touch panel and you’ll be playing at full native resolution without the ‘jaggies’. Like a proper cinematic platform adventure game, Rocketbirds does away with scrolling to give you big detailed screens. In interviews we jokingly referred to our PS3 game as a “non-scrolling-TILT-er” since the screens tilt a bit as you moved from left to right. For the PS Vita version we turned it up a notch and wired the tilting to the built-in motion sensors. Now you can counter-tilt at will and it looks great.
The final feature we’d like to highlight is improved connectivity for the game’s co-op campaign. To better fit with the portable nature of the game, you’ll be able to easily connect with a friend via online or ad-hoc mode for co-op play. We’ve also added two new playable co-op characters (Sniper Guy and Agent-H), exclusive to the PS Vita.
We’re really looking forward to the release and hope you’ll enjoy this ultimate version of Rocketbirds on PS Vita when it comes out in Q1 2013!
Since June, PS Vita owners have enjoyed watching videos via the YouTube app on the device’s brilliant 5” OLED screen, bringing you entertaining, hilarious, and viral videos, plus trailers for the hottest games coming to PS Vita and PS3 on the official PlayStation channel. While PS Vita’s YouTube app launched with a robust set of features, today you can update the app to version 2, bringing several new features that will enhance your viewing experience even further. Here are the highlights:
- Subscriptions and channels: Now you can view and manage your subscriptions (including your subscription to the PlayStation YouTube channel), browse all videos on a specific channel and check out detailed information in the “About this channel” menu option.
- Improved controls: We’ve added new functions on controls including Next/Previous buttons, a loop video option and the ability to browse videos while another is playing, making it easy to select preferred videos without interrupting playback.
- Playlist settings: You can now create playlists and add videos to your playlists, including your Favorites or Watch Later lists.
- Closed captions: Captions help deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers enjoy YouTube videos, and they’re also useful if you forgot your headphones and want to watch videos in a loud (or quiet) setting while on-the-go. Now you can display closed captions when playing videos. Look for the captions icon on the video thumbnail. You can even change the language of captions in the options menu.
- Continuous playback: In the settings menu, you can now enable continuous playback, so your next video selection will start to play automatically.
- PS Vita buttons: You now have the option to use the PS Vita buttons to control playback and menus, which can be enabled in the Settings > System menu.
- Share: Show that you’re tuned in—Tweet, Email or group message your friends the name and URL to the latest video. You can also invite people to check out any channel on YouTube — like the the PlayStation YouTube channel — via group message, so they don’t miss a beat.
- Improved search: You can now use search filters — sorting by upload date or duration, for example — making it easier than ever to find your favorite videos.
Let’s face it: getting up in the morning isn’t something we usually look forward to, but Wake-up Club adds some social fun into the mix to make getting out of bed more bearable. In addition to adding alarm clock functionality to PS Vita for the first time, including the ability to personalize your alarm tone and background theme, Wake-up Club matches 12 randomly selected players who set their alarm clock at the same time into a—you guessed it—wake-up club!
As soon as your alarm goes off, your avatar will begin bouncing around the PS Vita touchscreen. Tapping your avatar lets other players know you’re now awake. Once in the virtual club room, you can see other players’ avatars, as well as who’s awake and who’s still sleeping. Tapping the sleeping players’ avatars will “cheer” them on. If you happen to keep snoozing though, you’ll notice that the rest of the Wake-up Club players will begin appearing on your screen. Swipe them away and tap your avatar to join the rest of the group. Additionally, you can send friend requests and find out more information about each player by tapping their avatar. Make sure to check out your club records to see how many times you’ve managed to wake up within five minutes, how many consecutive successes you’ve managed, and the average time it takes you to wake up.
To get set up with Wake-up Club, access your PS Vita system’s Settings menu, choose Date & Time, then Date & Time Settings. Ensure that Set Automatically is ticked. Then you’re good to go! Be sure to check out Wake-up Club when it launches on the PS Vita PlayStation Store next Tuesday, January 15th. Happy snoozing!