The PlayStation Recap – Full Circle Edition

Lots to discuss this week, with a long-overdue update (our bad) on White Knight Chronicles II’s North American release date (tentatively scheduled for September!), a new behind-the-scenes Starhawk video and a Comic Con update, a slew of inFAMOUS 2 tutorial videos that will help you get started with the game’s extensive user-created mission tools, a new look at the visually stunning El Shaddai, and a first look at a new PlayStation Move title with Fast Draw Showdown.

Otherwise, I’ve been having an absolute ball with Batman: Arkham Asylum, despite being two years late to the party (d’oh!). And with my little brother in town to visit, I’ve been giving the PS3 a workout with co-op-friendly games and a copious stream of Netflix shows and movies. Not a bad week at all!

What have you been playing?

• I’m playing: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Catherine demo, Hoard, Castle Crashers, Streets of Rage 2, Duke Nukem Forever (multiplayer)
• I’m watching: The Twilight Zone (Original Series), South Park, Batman: Under the Red Hood, and Black Death on PS3 Netflix streaming
• I’m reading: The Hard SF Renaissance

Most-Watched Video of the Week: Resistance 3: ‘Full Circle’ Dev Diary

The 10 Most-Viewed Posts of the Week

• PlayStation Store Update — The PSN Summer Sale is live! Save 30% on 11 games (PS Plus subscribers save even more: 50%). New releases this week include Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Golden Axe, new demos for Catherine, Dead Nation, and PixelJunk Shooter 2’s Online Battle mode and more.
• Incoming: Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation Maps Hit PS3 July 28th — Black Ops: Annihilation brings four new multiplayer maps — Silo, Hangar 18, Drive-In and Hazard — plus the booby-trap-riddled Zombies map Shangri-La. And Activision wanted PS3 owners to know the news first! Read on in the comments for responses from Activision’s blogger Dan Amrich.
• The House of the Dead: OVERKILL Extended Cut – Hunt Mutants With PlayStation Move in 3D — THOTD: Overkill Extended Cut joins the ranks of excellent PlayStation Move shooters such as Dead Space Extraction and Time Crisis: Razing Storm. You’ll get two new scenarios and more with this PS3 exclusive.
• PSN to Invest $20 Million in Exclusive Game Portfolio — Upcoming PSN exclusives such as Eufloria, Okabu, and Papo & Yo are just the beginning. PlayStation Network’s Director of Marketing explains why retaining top developers is a key goal for PSN in the months and years to come.
• Wary of Long-Term Commitment to Catherine? Try the Demo First! — This oddly alluring adventure game explores the male subconscious, and the results aren’t always pretty. Read up on what Atlus’s Aram Jabbari calls an exploration of the “psychology and horror of relationships, commitment, and love.”
• Hideo Kojima Talks Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, Peace Walker HD, PS Vita — Metal Gear mastermind Kojima answers our questions about the upcoming HD Collection re-releases of Metal Gear Solid 2, MGS3 and MGS: Peace Walker, drops hints about his upcoming FOX Engine, and waxes poetic about the future of cult favorite Snatcher.
• UNCHARTED 3 Multiplayer Beta Concludes, Is Largest PS3 Beta Ever — Stats freaks, this post is for you! 1.53 million UNCHARTED 3 Multiplayer Beta players racked up 1.9 billion kills, 1.4 TRILLION dollars in Cash, and fired 48 billion shots over two weeks. Read on to learn what’s next for UNCHARTED 3 — starting with San Diego Comic Con gameplay!
• Resistance 3: “Full Circle” Dev Diary — Here, “Full Circle” refers to two concepts: Resistance 3’s weapon wheel and also the game’s return to its Resistance: Fall of Man roots. Get deeper insight into Insomniac Games’ goals for Resistance 3 with Rey’s latest video documentary.
• UFC Undisputed Comes to PlayStation Home + Weekly Update — The new UFC Octagon public space include training games, trivia, and special rewards. Or, if you’d rather keep your fisticuffs clandestine, check out the new UFC Undisputed personal space and and UFC virtual items including historic UFC posters, fight gear and furniture.
• Section 8: Prejudice Drops into PSN July 26th With Extra Weight — The good people of TimeGate Studios wanted PlayStation.Blog readers to see this news first! This sci-fi shooter is loaded with extra content for its PSN launch, and also has a special bonus for the first 1000 PlayStation Plus purchasers — a free copy of the original Section 8. Get a full tour of Prejudice here!