Early yesterday, Sony pulled the PlayStation Vita Facebook app from the PlayStation Store after many users complained of error codes when attempting to launch the app.

According to reports, gamers were unable to log in to Facebook via the PlayStation Vita app for most of the day yesterday, with users being greeted with the error code NP-13144-3 when attempting to log in.

“The Facebook application for PS Vita is not available at this point in time,” a Sony rep told Joystiq. “We are currently looking into this to restore it to normal operational status. We will announce further details when ready.”

Shortly after Sony shot over a statement to Joystiq, Sony EU community manager PadPoet posted on the PlayStation forums that the error was on Facebook’s end. Sony says that it’s working with Facebook to get the issue resolved.

Once everything’s all sorted out, Sony added, the Facebook app will once again be made available on the PlayStation Store–but as to when that will be, well, we don’t know. Sony says that there’s currently no timescale for a fix.

We’ll let you know when Sony has more to say about the Facebook app.

Sony pulls PlayStation Vita Facebook app is a post from: The Inquisitr

NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive sent out a new “behind-the-scenes” trailer for Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition today, reminding you that the compilation is due out on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on February 28.

They say it’s a “behind-the-scenes” video, but it’s more of a reminder of everything you’re getting in the package than anything else. In case you forgot what that is, Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition includes all DLC characters (Kenshi, Skarlet, Rain, Freddy Krueger), all 15 “Klassic” skins and all three of the pre-order exclusive Klassic Fatalities.

If you never got Mortal Kombat the first time around, or just want a convenient way to pick up all of the game’s DLC in one go, Mortal Kombat Komplete sounds like a pretty good deal. Mortal Kombat was easily up there among my favorite fighters to be released last year, so it’s an easy one to recommend for those who have yet to check it out.

If you’d like to see what all you’re getting in Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition, you can check out the behind-the-scenes video below.

Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition gets a behind-the-scenes trailer is a post from: The Inquisitr

Earlier this month, Sony confirmed that the UMD Passport program, which allowed gamers to “transfer” their UMD games to the PS Vita for a fee, wouldn’t see the light of day outside of Japan.

Sony didn’t say at the time why the UMD Passport program wouldn’t make it to North America or Europe, but now we have a little more information thanks to Wired’s interview with Shuhei Yoshida, Sony Computer Entertainment head of worldwide studios.

In the interview, Yoshida explained that the reason for the UMD Passport’s exclusion outside of Japan came down to demand and costs. UMDs, according to Yoshida, caught on a whole lot more in Japan than it did in North America and Europe.

“When you look at the release schedule of new titles there are still lots of PSP games being released in Japan and being announced for release,” Yoshida explained. “Lots of people who are interested in trying Vita are also interested in playing PSP games that they might purchase before Vita comes out, and will not necessarily choose the digital version.”

The decision to exclude the program in North America and Europe wasn’t solely due to a lack of a demand, however. Yoshida says that in Japan, software prices are higher; if a Japanese gamer forks over $5 or $10 to transfer their UMD game to their Vita, it would come out to be less of a cost than buying the game new.

“Because people in Japan are not getting the digital copy for free, because it costs us money to develop and maintain the system so we are asking people to pay somewhere between $5 and $10 to receive the digital copy in addition to what they have on the UMD.

“When you compare that to the price of games here, PSP games in Japan are sold at a much higher price, so people see the value in spending the $5 to $10 to get the digital copy. But when the games are already sold at a lower price in the U.S. we see less value in introducing that kind of system. The combination of the new titles available, or the lack of, and the price difference, the company decided to do that.”

Source: Wired

Sony explains why UMD Passport program isn’t coming to the west is a post from: The Inquisitr

In the latest episode of the PlayStation Blogcast, Sony revealed that it plans to launch a standalone free-to-play(ish) version of Killzone 3‘s multiplayer mode on PlayStation Network.

Killzone 3‘s multiplayer will be made available next week, but there’s a bit of a catch: it’s not entirely free. You’ll be able to access most of Killzone 3 multiplayer content (including DLC) free of charge, but only up to the level of “Sergeant 1″.

Once you reach the level cap in the Killzone 3 multiplayer title, you’ll need to fork over a reasonable $14.99 to continue playing. Once you do so, you’ll be able to play Killzone 3‘s multiplayer, DLC and all, to your heart’s content.

Additionally, purchasing the full version will net you a 24-hour double XP bonus, some free points towards unlocking goodies, and the rest of the multiplayer features will be unlocked, including the ability to make custom games, create clans, and access to the “Botzone” mode.

The download won’t include any singleplayer content, of course, so you’ll need to pick up the full game if you want to access that. There’s no word whether or not Sony plans to offer the singleplayer portion of Killzone 3 as a separate download at some point.

Source: Sony, Guerrilla

Killzone 3 multiplayer getting standalone free-to-play release on PSN next week is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s been strongly suggested in the past that EA intends to release a follow-up to 2010′s Medal of Honor reboot, and now it looks like it’s official.

Game Informer managed to pick up an early copy of the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine, and in it EA and developer Danger Close reveal that the follow-up, titled Medal of Honor: Warfighter, is set to release this October.

Not much is known about Medal of Honor: Warfighter other than the fact that it will, like just about every other EA game lately, run on DICE’s shiny ‘Frostbite 2.0′ engine, and that the story will once again follow Tier 1 Operators.

The only other bit of news to come out of the reveal was that this time around, development on the multiplayer mode is being handled in-house this time around. You may recall that for Medal of Honor 2010, development on the multiplayer mode was handled by DICE.

The original Medal of Honor saw a release on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, so it’s likely that Warfighter will be available on all three platforms as well.

Source: Game Informer

Medal of Honor: Warfighter revealed in OXM is a post from: The Inquisitr

Subscription-based models for MMOs are fast becoming a thing of the past as more and more publishers transition over to the free-to-play model, and it looks like Blizzard may begin embracing the model with an unannounced game of theirs.

The news comes from a report by Develop, which has it that Blizzard is working on some sort of unannounced free-to-play title. Whether said title “Project Titan” or something else entirely, we don’t know–Develop’s sources didn’t go into more detail than that.

This isn’t the first time Blizzard has spoken about the possibility of adopting the free-to-play model in the future. Back during last year’s BlizzCon, Blizzard COO Paul Sams had this to say:

“It certainly is possible, if we find ourselves in that circumstance, or if we come up with a game where we think that’s the right business model, the most appropriate for players to experience it,” Sams said.

“We don’t have any opposition to the concept, it’s just that at this point we haven’t decided to make a game where that is the model. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t.”

What do you think about free-to-play titles, MMO or otherwise? Would you like to see the subscription model phased out?

Source: Develop

[Rumor] Blizzard developing a free-to-play title is a post from: The Inquisitr

You may recall that Taco Bell recently kicked off a PlayStation Vita giveaway, otherwise known as the “Unlock the Box” promotion. Well, it turns out that a few of the giveaway’s “winners” didn’t actually win at all–and hackers are apparently to blame.

A good many customers were voicing complaints that they didn’t receive their Vita after being told that they had won after entering their code on the contest website. According to a statement sent out by Taco Bell, hackers “illegally accessed” the website and generated too many winners.

Here’s what Taco Bell had to say to its disappointed customers:

We have learned that during a short period of time on January 30th, some people entering our Unlock the Box promotion erroneously received a message suggesting they had won a PlayStation® Vita, pending verification. After a thorough investigation, and an additional review by the independent company administering the promotion, it was confirmed that these entrants viewed these messages as a result of others who attempted to gain illegal entry and defraud the system. Unfortunately, during this time period some saw a confirmation screen but were not valid winners.

Taco Bell designed this sweepstakes to be fun for our consumers and we know that there are some disappointed fans.

We are therefore giving those consumers who viewed erroneous messages a second chance to win by automatically entering them into a separate drawing to win a PS Vita. All winners will be notified and their names posted the week after the end of the promotion. The issue that occurred on January 30th has been resolved and the Unlock the Box promotion will continue to run through March 11, 2012.

Did you enter into Taco Bell’s giveaway for a chance to win a PlayStation Vita?

Source: CBS (via Game Informer)

Taco Bell says some PlayStation Vita giveaway winners didn’t actually win is a post from: The Inquisitr

Not that we ever really needed a reason but now we have scientific proof that we can use to shut down those disapproving looks from the youngsters and party-poopers.

Yes folks science has proven that World of Warcraft is a good thing for older adults to play because it apparently helps improve our diminishing cognitive functions, or at least according to researchers at North Carolina State University anyway.

In testing the researchers found that playing WoW boosted cognitive functioning for us oldsters, especially those of use who scored like crap on cognitive ability tests before we started playing.

Dr. Anne McLaughlin, assistant professor of psychology at NC State as well as being a co-author on the paper of the study, says that World of Warcraft was chosen because they felt it had the attributes that could produce results as it is a cognitively challenging game with a socially interactive environment and one that presented users with novel situations.

The study first tested the cognitive functioning of the study group which was aged between 60 and 77 in order to get a baseline. The cognitive abilities that they were looking at included spatial ability, memory, and how well the participants could focus their attention.

An “experimental” group of study participants then played WoW on their home computers for approximately 14 hours over the course of two weeks, before being re-tested. A “control” group of study participants did not play WoW, but were also re-tested after two weeks.

Comparing the cognitive functioning test scores of participants in the experimental and control groups, the researchers found the group that played WoW saw a much greater increase in cognitive functioning, though the effect varied according to each participant’s baseline score.

“Among participants who scored well on baseline cognitive functioning tests, there was no significant improvement after playing WoW – they were already doing great,” McLaughlin says. “But we saw significant improvement in both spatial ability and focus for participants who scored low on the initial baseline tests.” Pre- and post-game testing showed no change for participants on memory.

via Science Daily

Okay time to get Grandpa there a World of Warcraft subscription sonny.

Now us old farts have a reason to play World of Warcraft is a post from: The Inquisitr

Gearbox released a new trailer for Borderlands 2 and, in addition to being totally awesome the whole way through, the trailer reveals a release date for the game.

According to the video, Borderlands 2 is set to release on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on September 18. An international release is expected to follow just a few days later on September 21.

Also in the video, we get to see a healthy dose of new locations, new NPCs, new weapons, and our first look at all four of the game’s playable characters (Salvador, Maya, Axton, Zero).

“The addictive gameplay and shooting and looting mayhem of the first Borderlands is back and better than ever in Borderlands 2, taking the franchise to an entirely new level,” Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K, said in a statement accompanying the video. “With more guns, more enemies, more missions, an engaging story and all-new characters, Borderlands 2 promises to bring a new era to gaming this fall.”

You can check out the latest Borderlands 2 trailer for yourself directly below.

Borderlands 2 trailer brings the wub wub, reveals release date is a post from: The Inquisitr

A new listing over on the Xbox Live Marketplace popped up earlier today for an unannounced piece of Mass Effect 3 DLC, dubbed “From Ashes”, priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10). Shortly after the listing went live, Microsoft promptly took it back down again.

The description of the DLC in the apparently accidental listing said that ‘From Ashes’ allows you to pick up an all new companion for your squad. Revealing the race of said companion would be a bit of a spoiler, but you can find out more in the screencap at the bottom of the post.

Shortly after Microsoft published and promptly pulled the Mass Effect 3 “From Ashes” listing, BioWare Associate Producer Michael Gamble took to the developer’s forums to confirm that the listing is indeed accurate.

Gamble wrote:

We’re happy to confirm that Mass Effect 3: From Ashes DLC will be available at launch for all platforms. For those of you who have purchased the N7 Collector’s Edition (including the PC Digital Deluxe Edition), you will get this content at no extra charge. We’ll have a lot more details for you later this week! Stay Tuned!

Mass Effect 3 ‘From Ashes’ DLC listing (mild spoilers):

Mass Effect 3 ‘From Ashes’ DLC info leaks, BioWare confirms is a post from: The Inquisitr

Street Fighter X Tekken is set to release early Mach on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but it looks like the PlayStation Vita version will be missing that March date by quite a bit.

Capcom confirmed today that Street Fighter X Tekken won’t be making its way to the PlayStation Vita until at some point this fall. Fortunately, Capcom gave us some good news to go along with the bad.

Capcom revealed today that the PlayStation Vita version will add in a whopping 12 extra characters to Street Fighter X Tekken–6 from Capcom, 6 from Namco. On the Street Fighter end, Vita owners will get Elena, Guy, Cody, Sakura, Dudley and Blanka, while the Tekken side is bolstered by Alisa, Christie, Jack, Brian, Lars and Lei.

Capcom didn’t say whether or not any of these 12 additional characters would be making their way to PC, PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 at any point, but I’d personally be surprised if they didn’t, what with all of the updates to Capcom’s most recent fighters.

Street Fighter X Tekken releases on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 6. A PC release is expected on May 11.

Street Fighter X Tekken coming to Vita this fall along with new characters is a post from: The Inquisitr

After a series of Spec Ops: The Line delays since its announcement back in 2009, 2K Games has finally stamped a (hopefully) final release date for their tactical third-person shooter: June 26.

“Spec Ops: The Line is 2K Games’ first foray into the military shooter genre,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “We’ve created a unique game that explores the dark realities of war and places players in difficult situations where the line between right and wrong becomes increasingly blurred as players fight to survive.”

In addition to announcing Spec Ops: The Line‘s release date, 2K dropped details on the obligatory pre-order incentives. If you pre-order at select retailers–2K games didn’t say which ones–you’ll get access to the premium edition, which includes the “FUBAR” pack.

Here’s what you’ll be getting with Spec Ops: The Line‘s “Premium Edition”:

• Twice the amount of experience points will be awarded during the first week of play, enabling gamers to expedite character ranking;
• The AK-47 weapon will unlock at rank one;
• The “Officer Class” will unlock at rank one. This character class includes several team-based advantages, such as reducing damage to teammates and increasing the effectiveness of other classes;
• Access to the “FUBAR Pack,” which contains exclusive accessories allowing players to customize their characters with unique and visually distinctive items.

If you’d like to check out the pre-order bonuses in action, you can check out the latest Spec Ops: The Line trailer from 2K Games directly below.

Spec Ops: The Line release date, pre-order bonuses revealed is a post from: The Inquisitr

In preparation for the launch of the PlayStation Vita on Wednesday, Sony has begun to roll out a new firmware update (version 1.61). If you’ve managed to score a PlayStation Vita, the update should be available to you now.

Here’s what you’ll be getting out of PlayStation Vita update 1.61:

• A new application, (Maps), has been added to the home screen.
• In addition to photos, you can now take videos using the Photo application.
• You can now publish stories about the products that you rate in PlayStation Store to Facebook.
• In near, players’ information is now displayed on the Discoveries screen. On this screen, a list of the online IDs of up to 100 players that you have encountered, and the number of times that you encountered each player, are displayed. Tap an online ID to display that player’s profile screen.
• The Mac OS version of Content Manager Assistant for PlayStation has been released. The Windows version has also been updated.

If you’ve recently updated your PlayStation Vita to version 1.60, Sony recommends that you go ahead and make the upgrade to version 1.61 as the latest update adds in some systemwide improvements.

Additionally, Sony made the update available for download straight to your PC/Mac. For more information on how that works, check out Sony’s blog post at this link.

PlayStation Vita updated to version 1.61, adds new app and more is a post from: The Inquisitr

Over the weekend, Nintendo released a graph showing the 3DS had hit five million sales in 52 weeks, a record for Japanese hardware sales. The 3DS took the record from its predecessor, the Nintendo DS, which managed five million sales in 56 weeks. The Game Boy Advance hit the five million mark after 58 weeks.

And yes, all of these figures relate to sell-through stock – that is, units sold from shops to customers (some companies count all stock sold to stores, but necessarily to customers).

What’s remarkable about this is that it comes after a launch period which saw 3DS sales dip to disastrously low levels in its first three months on store shelves. In a country like Japan, where Nintendo handhelds have always sold well, that was a shock.

Indeed, if you had told me last May that the 3DS would be setting sales records by the end of its first year on the market, I’d have questioned your sanity. However, a significant price drop and the arrival of big-hitting franchises like Zelda and Mario have led a resurgence.

Anyway, good for Nintendo. After being written off time and time again, the big N just keeps coming back. In short, the growth of smartphone gaming and the release of the PS Vita seems not to have affected how much people want to play Mario and Zelda.

Nintendo 3DS Becomes Fastest Selling Console Ever in Japan is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you caught the latest episode of The Walking Dead over the weekend, you may have caught the new Mass Effect 3 ‘Take Earth Back’ trailer. But if you missed it due to a bathroom break or.. not watching The Walking Dead, the trailer is now available online.

In case you missed it during its debut, the ‘Take Earth Back’ trailer doesn’t show any actual gameplay. Instead, the trailer treats us to some pretty lovely CG that shows just how dire the situation on ol’ planet Earth will be in Mass Effect 3.

If you’re looking for more gameplay rather than a cinematic trailer, EA recently released the Mass Effect 3 demo across all platforms (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360), so you can check that out to get your Mass Effect 3 gameplay fix.

You can check out the Mass Effect 3 ‘Take Earth Back’ trailer directly below.

Mass Effect 3 is due out on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 6.

Mass Effect 3 ‘Take Earth Back’ trailer gives us a reason to fight [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Valve has found a pretty massive amount of success in the software space of the gaming industry, but what if they were dive into the hardware side of it?

Valve’s Gabe Newell, speaking in an interview with Penny Arcade, said that the company is certainly open to the idea of jumping into making hardware if the company feels like it “has to”.

“Well, if we have to sell hardware we will,” he said. “We have no reason to believe we’re any good at it, it’s more we think that we need to continue to have innovation and if the only way to get these kind of projects started is by us going and developing and selling the hardware directly then that’s what we’ll do.”

Newell continued: “It’s definitely not the first thought that crosses our mind; we’d rather hardware people that are good at manufacturing and distributing hardware do that. We think it’s important enough that if that’s what we end up having to do then that’s what we end up having to do.”

Newell also touched on the sensitive topic of Half-Life 2 Episode 3 topic, acknowledging that fans were disappointed in the lack of Half-Life-related news over the past several years, be it Episode 3 or even Half-Life 3.

“We’re acutely aware of how much we annoy our fans and it’s pretty frustrating to us when we put them into that situation. We try to go as fast as we can and we try to pick the things that we think are going to be most valuable to our customers and if there’s some magic way we can get more work done in a day then we’d love to hear about it, but we recognize that it’s been a long time whereas we have so many games that people really love–Counterstrike, Half Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, not a whole lot of Ricochet enthusiasts out there, and at the same time we want to be making sure that those games and those stories and those characters are moving forward while also making sure that we don’t just get into terminal sequelitis.”

You can hear more from Newell by checking out the full interview here.

Gabe Newell: Valve will sell hardware “if it has to” is a post from: The Inquisitr

With some publishers seemingly wary of porting their games to the PC platform due to piracy, it’s always great to hear a PC sales success story, and today we have one from Remedy regarding the launch of the PC version of Alan Wake.

Over on the Alan Wake forums, a Remedy employee revealed that the developer has recouped all of its costs of porting Alan Wake over to the PC–this includes development and marketing costs–in a matter of 48 hours.

“We are very happy with the sales and hitting #1 on Steam at launch was nothing short of amazing,” Remedy said. We recouped our development and marketing expenses during the first 48 hours. And yes, we’re certainly very excited about PC.”

The follow-up to Alan Wake, dubbed Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, is expected to release on Xbox 360 this Wednesday. Remedy hasn’t said whether the digital follow-up would be making its way to PC, but one would expect that they’re looking into it after the success of Alan Wake PC.

Did you pick up Alan Wake on PC? Let us know what you think of it in the comments section below.

Alan Wake PC recouped costs within 48 hours, Remedy says is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ubisoft has been quiet on Assassin’s Creed: Revelations DLC lately, but it looks like another round of DLC is on its way soon–this month, in fact.

Over the weekend, GameStop sent out an email to customers with an upcoming release list. Interestingly, the list makes mention of a DLC called “Lost Archive”, which the retailer says will release on February 28 for $14.99.

The news comes just after Xbox 360 Achievements updated its achievements list for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations with a few from an unannounced, seemingly singleplayer-focused DLC.

Ubisoft hasn’t confirmed the DLC yet, so we don’t have any more official details beyond that. Going by the leaked achievements for the DLC, however, it looks like the Lost Archive could actually be focused on Desmond.

Would you like to see more singleplayer-focused DLC for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, or do you prefer the multiplayer DLC offerings? Let us know in the comments!

via Joystiq

GameStop listing dates new Assassin’s Creed: Revelations DLC is a post from: The Inquisitr

Looks like Call of Duty will be making its debut on the PlayStation Vita later this year, according to recent comments from Guy Longworth, Sony’s new SVP of PlayStation brand marketing.

Speaking in an interview with GameTrailers’ Geoff Keighley, Longworth casually confirmed that Call of Duty is coming to the PlayStation Vita this autumn. While he was willing to reveal that much, he didn’t go into specifics.

“In the Autumn, [my kids] are really looking forward to Call of Duty on Vita, and that’s going to be an absolute game changer for the platform,” Longworth told Keighley in the interview.

Activision recently confirmed that a new Call of Duty title will be seeing a release this year, but it isn’t known if this mysterious Call of Duty Vita title will be a port of that, a port of a previous game, or something new entirely.

Recent news has it that the next Call of Duty game will be Black Ops 2, the sequel to Treyarch’s best selling Call of Duty title to date. Activision has yet to confirm the news, however.

via GameSpot

Call of Duty coming to PlayStation Vita later this year, Sony says is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you were clinging onto hope that Sony would announce the PlayStation 4 this year, you’re likely in for a disappointment if the latest comments from Sony Computer Entertainment America boss Jack Tretton are any indication–which they are.

Speaking to IGN, Tretton shot down rumors that Sony would be revealing the PlayStation 4 this year. Put simply, Tretton says that Sony has too much on its plate right now to make such an announcement.

“And right now, we’re focused on PlayStation 3, and I’ve got another platform (PlayStation Vita) to get out the door in seven days, so I don’t want to be thinking about trying to launch new technology anytime soon,” Tretton said. I want to focus all our energy on our console business, which is really just hitting its stride, and Vita, which really deserves a dedicated push from us.”

“I, quite frankly, would be very distracted if I had to be talking about next generation hardware this year,” Tretton concluded.

Source: IGN

Sony chief: PlayStation 4 reveal in 2012 would be a “distraction” is a post from: The Inquisitr