Gran Turismo 5's A Bigger Deal Than Any Exclusive Shooter Franchise Sony Could Have Offered This Fall.

Sony’s line-up has been exceedingly strong this year. In fact, it’s probably the strongest the PlayStation 3 has ever had. It’s been a banner year for the system, with games such as Heavy Rain and God Of War III all being massive success stories for the brand. It’s telling of the industry’s state that people should choose to criticise the line-up — MAG aside, there’s not been a banner exclusive shooter in Sony’s 2010 line-up; and with SOCOM 4 delayed people are now beginning to question the strength of Sony’s holiday offering. It’s a criticism that’s going nowhere.

Sony has two big games in their fall line-up this year: LittleBigPlanet 2 and Gran Turismo 5. Correct, neither of the games are shooters. But the latter just so happens to be bigger than any shooter Sony could possibly put out — forget Killzone, Uncharted, SOCOM and inFamous; Gran Turismo 5 is likely to be the biggest PlayStation 3 release this hardware generation, and it’s important for numerous reasons.

It’s true that I’m not the biggest car fanatic, nor am I the biggest Gran Turismo fan. But I can enjoy and appreciate it for what it is – a stunningly well realised, lovingly crafted racing simulator. But for Sony, and indeed the PlayStation 3, it’s more than that. Gran Turismo sells consoles.

It’s an importance that I feel people are over-looking about this year’s line-up. Uncharted 2 was a stunning title that enhanced the PlayStation’s catalogue, but alone it did not sell consoles. The same can be said about Killzone, SOCOM, LittleBigPlanet, inFamous and Modnation. Together they make for an enticing line-up, and it’s the collective ethos of all these titles thrown together that sells consoles. But alone, there’s only one franchise that Sony can release which will guarantee console sales: that’s Gran Turismo.

It’s hard for me to imagine how a line-up including the latest iteration of said franchise could ever be considered disappointing. And when you couple that with the sequel to 2008’s game of the year, I’m struggling to find a better case for this year’s line-up. LittleBigPlanet 2’s almost certain to be the most ambitious game of 2010 – purely from a conceptual stance that’s certain to be the case. “A game where you make games”. I see a lot of scepticism for LittleBigPlanet 2 – “it’ll take hours to create something decent”. What a sorry outlook — people are disappointed they have to spend time making something good? Perhaps Media Molecule should throw in a “Create An Amazing Level” button that does all the hard work for you?

I think people’s problem with Sony fall line-up is telling of the state of the industry. People claim they are tired of most games involving shooting elements, but if you look at PlayStation exclusives this year, there’s barely been any shooting. Sure there was MAG very early in the year, but aside from Move title The Shoot, that’s your lot. It becomes apparent to me that you can’t have a “big game” unless it involves shooting. They’re the barometer for success just now, despite the industry continuously craving diversity. Sony’s offering that. They’re offering you two big games this fall that involve platforming and racing; both are iterative, but unique.

Sony’s line-up this year has been packed with diversity. You want shooters? They’re going to give you shooters next year – SOCOM 4, Killzone 3, Resistance 3 and so forth. If you’re using shooters as the definition of a strong line-up, then Sony’s going to have everyone quaking in 2011. But shooters aren’t the key to a strong line-up — enjoyable experiences are. And I’d hazard Sony’s offered more of those than any other publisher this year. Just open your eyes and look past the guns. This fall is going to be an incredible end to a brilliantly diverse year for PlayStation 3.

“Twiggy” is an anonymous PushSquare columnist who has been spotted in three major cities across the globe. It’s rumoured he’s on the run from the British monarchy who accused him of treason.

SEGA Actually Made Money This Quarter. Fair Play To Them.

What the hell? If there was any company we’d have bet on losing money this quarter, it’d be SEGA. Not that we have anything against the company – heck no, we love them – but a lot of their releases this quarter were weak. At least, that’s what we thought.

Turns out we were wrong. Very wrong. SEGA actually managed profits of 7 billion yen ($80.8 million US) for the quarter ending June 30th. For comparison, this time last year they were reporting a loss 10.3 billion yen ($118.9 million US). Congrats for that turn-around then guys.

As expected, the actual performance of SEGA’s titles wasn’t in-line with the profits. Alpha Protocol only managed to shift 700,000 units worldwide, while Iron Man 2 fared a little better with 1.12 million units. It was SEGA’s pachinko and pachislot business that made the most money, contributing 48.9 billion of the company’s 91.3 billion yen revenue.

Buy Into Medal Of Honor & You Might Net Yourself Some Battlefield 3 Goodness In The Process.

EA’s confirmed that those who purchase the limited edition version of Medal Of Honor will be given the opportunity to play Battlefield 3 within 12 months of MoH’s release. Anyone who owns special package of Medal Of Honor will be invited to the beta, which will be available for a limited time.

The limited edition includes a bunch of in-game goodies, including weapons (MP-7, shotguns) and camouflage. It’s also worth noting that the PlayStation 3 version of the game comes with an exclusive HD remaster of Medal Of Honor: Frontlines.

Finally, Finally, Finally. Are We About To See Resistance 3 At GamesCom?

Given the number of games Sony has already announced this year, we thought the Resistance 3 ship had come and gone. With Insomniac Games announcing their colloboration with EA Partners, we genuinely believed that the next Resistance was on hiatus – despite those billboard posters suggesting otherwise.

Today, we’ve been given more than a scrap of hope, however. Insomniac’s confirmed that they’ll announce their new “PlayStation 3 project” between now and PAX Central. Do you know what happens between now and PAX? GamesCom. We’re just saying.

Amazingly, Insomniac has confirmed that they will be bringing the new game to PAX and demoing it at their panel. “Want to be the first members of the public to see our new game being played with your own eyes? We’re bringing our new game to a very special Penny-Arcade Expo panel on Saturday evening (September 4th), at 6:30pm in the Serpent Theatre.”

Looks like Sony are prepping for another huge GamesCom showcase then. We thought it was going to be a quieter year for them after last year’s excitement — but dude, Resistance 3. We love the Resistance franchise.

The PlayStation Blog’s just uploaded a condensed version of Sucker Punch’s Comic-Con panel from earlier this month. The panel goes into a lot of detail about the original inFamous’ design process, aswell as tackling some hot-topics regarding the sequel.

Interestingly, Sucker Punch dropped a “wait and see” line regarding PlayStation Move support and multiplayer, which a more speculative blogger might want to read into. For now we’ll let you make your own assumptions.

Team 17 Believe The PSPgo's Penetration Issues Are Down To Pricing. They're Probably Right.

We love our PSPgo here at PushSquare, but it’d be fair to say that it’s not been the most well received hardware re-release for some time. Talking up digital distribution in an interview with IncGamers, Team 17’s Martyn Brown reckons the PSPgo’s issues are inherent of price.

“Digital Distribution is here to stay. I think the issues with the PSPgo were somewhat different, basically the cost of the hardware, the software library and it’s pricing – the problem wasn’t that it was a digital device – look at the iPhone & App store.”

There’s no doubt Sony’s got some lessons to learn if the intend to take the digital-only route with the PSP’s successor, but no doubt the PSPgo’s been a good learning curve for them in terms of gauging exactly what consumers want. Which is usually solid gold for the price of peanuts.

Limbo is an XBOX Live Arcade exclusive that’s garnered a lot of attention due to its bleak looks and interesting mechanics. It’s an exclusive that’s unlikely to come to the PlayStation 3 soon. Thankfully the PS3 has one of the best level editing tools on the planet (well, until its sequel releases). You can probably guess where this post is going — that’s right folks, Bra2008 has created an homage to Limbo in LittleBigPlanet. It looks stunning too, and totally in-tune with its inspiration.

We’ve embedded a video of the real Limbo after the jump for comparison’s sake.

3D Functionality In Assassin's Creed Could Make Walking Through Crowds Even More Immersive.

Ubisoft UK’s managing director has confirmed that the company are looking into bringing 3D to their triple-A titles. Cooper told MCV, “I do believe that Avatar allowed us just a little bit of advantage in terms of experience with how this market will work.”

“We are working to offer the possibility of 3D on most of our upcoming triple-A titles, as we’d like to ensure that we are there for those consumers that begin putting new 3D enabled televisions in their homes.”

Ubisoft already has a couple of games that support 3D – the upcoming Shaun White Skateboarding will utilise the tech, while 2009’s Avatar had the option to play in the extra dimension.

It’s likely that games such as Assassin’s Creed, Ghost Recon and Prince Of Persia could go 3D in the future, then. Something to look forward to if you think the new tech’s cool. No doubt something to moan about if you don’t.

Codemasters Sure Like Their Yellow Filter Don't They?

That, right there, presented in glistening digital format, is your first look at Codemasters’ DIRT 3. We’ve known that the rally franchise was getting a sequel for some time, but we’re about to get a better idea about the game’s direction this weekend. The game’s set to air its debut trailer on ESPN during the X-Games. No doubt it’ll be on YouTube within minutes.

Until then, you’ll just have to enjoy this little tease-shot.

The Modnation Racers Patch Looks Set To Elevate The Pack To A Whole New Level.

IGN’s dropped details of the long awaited patch for United Front Games’ Modnation Racers. We loved the game when we reviewed it a few months back, but had stopped playing recently due to a number of issues with the game — namely the load times. While we didn’t have a huge problem with the loading at the time, they do kill the multiplayer somewhat, as there’s no repeating lobby system.

United Front’s been keeping a keen eye on criticism, however, and has finally revealed details of the long awaited patch that will be available next week.

We’ve included the words of IGN after the jump, as they have the full details. Looks like this is one bumper update, and it’ll definitely get us jumping back into one of our favourite games of the year thus far.

Slashed Load Times
Yes, there are still going to be load times, but Sony is reporting that in some cases those loads will be 50 percent faster.

Casual Difficulty
A lot of folks dug the gameplay in ModNation Racers, but they were getting pwned by the game’s AI-controlled opponents; those computerized bastards never gave Player 1 a break! Well, this patch introduces Casual Difficulty Mode. This should give people who just want to have some fun the chance to do so without having to worry about hurling a controller after getting sideswiped in the third lap.

Friends with XP Benefits
Racing in XP Races and Series is key to earning experience points and leveling-up online. However, as it stands, you can’t invite your friends to XP outings. It kind of sucks the fun out of your multiplayer romp. Well, next week, that’ll be a thing of the past. This patch allows you to invite your buddies to races and series, so go level grind!

Death to Hot Lap Cheaters
Apparently, this patch will fix a bug that allowed players to cut through tracks and post ridiculous times in the online Hot Lap section. Only a few more days to steal the spotlight, kids!

The Ultimate Collector
Player cards — the profile showing what you’ve whipped up — will now display all of you creations and not just some of them.

Get Online Faster and Stay There
United Front Games is also fixing MNR so that you’ll be able to jump into online races faster than ever. The developers say that this has been done by removing “the online game room from the ModSpot.” On top of that, the server’s been upgraded to help get rid of those pesky disconnects people were having to deal with. We’ll see how that works next week.

Attain the Unattainable (Challenges)
United Front Games has listened to all of your ranting and raving and honed in on three challenges that it agrees are just too damn tough. When you download the patch, expect different completion conditions on the Devastator takedown on Wild Run, the Devastator takedown on Modobahn and the “sideswipe three opponents on the cliff side” task on Fracture.

Free Stuff
The Tin Bucket item will be unlocked for everyone! Hooray!