Paul Brownlee

Most of the time when you reach a point in the game when things seem too good to be true, they usually are.



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sabri points out that Reddit CEO Ellen Pao plans to ban salary negotiations in an attempt to equalize pay for men and women. "After losing a sex-discrimination lawsuit in Silicon Valley last week, Ellen Pao continues on her crusade to bring gender equality to the tech world, but this time with a focus on her home turf. As Reddit’s interim CEO, Pao said she wants to eliminate salary negotiations from the company’s hiring process. In her first interview since the lawsuit, Pao told with the Wall Street Journal Monday that the plan would help level the playing field. 'Men negotiate harder than women do and sometimes women get penalized when they do negotiate,' she said. 'So as part of our recruiting process we don’t negotiate with candidates. We come up with an offer that we think is fair. If you want more equity, we’ll let you swap a little bit of your cash salary for equity, but we aren’t going to reward people who are better negotiators with more compensation.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Proudly, and with great anticipation, we announce that Aaru’s Awakening is coming to PS4 and PS3 on April 7th.

At last! The plan was to release the game last summer but first we had to learn about the hefty work of post-production in video games. The hard way. Since this is the debut game for us at Lumenox Games, it has been a learning experience. The game started out as a school project for three of the founding members of Lumenox Games but took off when it won a game creation competition, IGI Gamecreator. Plus having faith it was a motivation to establish the company. Well…

Aaru’s Awakening is an “indie game”. So, what makes a game an “indie game”? Some say it has to do with size of the developer, others say it has to do with distribution or funding – but really there is no real definition. For us, it has always been about creating the game independently. No compromise. Working long hours and burning up the midnight oil has defined this process. No regrets. This game is our passion. So, you have to understand: We are excited.

That is exactly why we decided to hand draw everything on the screen, make our own score and design each level to utilise the game mechanic of teleportation in clever ways. For those not familiar with the game, Aaru’s Awakening is a fast-paced platformer that relies on the protagonists abilities to teleport and charge. To finish levels players must solve puzzles that require these abilities, often with split second decision in the rapid and deadly environment. To further involve you in this environment we created a story which is delivered through narrated cut-scenes and music that is fitting to the mood.

The game has been in a developing process for a long time now and we have taken all criticism humbly and with open eyes. We are thankful and we have changed the game accordingly – whenever we have seen useful points. And have updated the game to this very day. It goes without saying; we hope the gamers will like the result.

For those who are advanced in game, here are examples of the newest developments: As the game revolves heavily around using the shoulder and trigger buttons – much like with first-person shooters – we had ignored the conventional button jumping and assigned it to “up” on the left joystick. As we had gotten used to it ourselves, we felt it was easy and comfortable and did not anticipate gamers to feel any different. We were wrong and we figured out a way to assign the jumping to the same button that makes Aaru ‘charge’ – L1.

The charging ability makes Aaru dash through the air, enabling him both extra time in the air and the ability to break certain breakable objects. As you always tend to jump when you charge anyway, this made a lot of sense. At the same time we assigned the charging direction to the movement direction of Aaru – which makes more sense when using a controller – opposed to the direction of where you are aiming your teleportation mechanic.

So, as you can see, there is a lot to take under consideration.

One of our most severe criticisms revolved around the difficulty of the game. While we always wanted to make a difficult game, it’s important to make sure that the game isn’t to blame when a player fails to progress, and to make them feel satisfied when they do. For this reason we had to carefully review each of the game’s puzzles with the help of game testers that had no experience with them. A lot of puzzles got minor tweaks, while the boss levels perhaps took the biggest transformation. We now feel that the game is a lot more fluid and easier to pick up – making it easy to learn, but difficult to master.

While getting off to a rocky start – some loving the game and others having trouble with certain aspects – we now feel that it has become something most people can really enjoy. It makes us extremely happy to be releasing the game free for all PlayStation Plus subscribers on PS3 and PS4 so we can reach a larger audience and get as much feedback as possible. For the rest of you, the game is only $14.99.

Now we can use this valuable experience to keep working further on Aaru – the adventure is just about to begin.

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for your interest in Bloodborne during launch. We wanted to share some tips and guidance for the multiplayer experience for those that are encountering issues or have lingering questions. If you’re sensitive to spoiler content, please be advised that the below does contain material related to the story.

Online Multiplayer

Bloodborne features both cooperative and versus online multiplayer functionality.

Utilizing the new Suspend/Resume feature to put the PS4 into Rest mode without shutting down the game first causes players to be unable to complete matchmaking. Please be sure to restart the game in order to make sure you are able to connect online and matchmake for multiplayer.

This issue will be addressed in an upcoming patch.

Cooperative Play

Bloodborne features cooperative play for up to 3 players max. Below, the player initiating the cooperative session is the “host” and players who respond to that are the “guests.”

Cooperative Play rules: The goal of cooperative play is to join forces and work together to defeat enemies.

Initiating cooperative play:

1. Host uses/rings the Beckoning Bell
2. Guests use/ring the Small Resonant Bell
3. Host and guest (up to 2 guests) are connected, and play within the Host’s game

Hints

• The “Beckoning Bell” can be found within the Hunter’s Dream when you have one or more Insight points.
• You can acquire the Small Resonant Bell from the Insight shop that appears in the Hunter’s Dream once you have at least 10 Insight points.
• If you have already defeated the boss in the area you are currently in, you won’t be able to use the Beckoning Bell. However you will still be able to use the Small Resonant Bell to join other player’s games as a Guest and assist them.
• The game does not match players who are too far apart in their current player Level.

Cooperative Play Completion
Once players successfully defeat the boss enemy in the area they are joined to, the guests receive a bonus reward and are returned to their own world/game.

Cooperative Play Incompletion
If the host or guest(s) die, or if a guest uses the Silencing Blank item, the guest(s) are returned to their own world/game, and do not receive the bonus reward.

Password
The multiplayer matchmaking for cooperative play is automatic and random. However by setting a password for your session, other players can enter the same password and be joined to your game. Passwords can be up to 8 letters long. *Passwords are only used for cooperative play, not Versus PvP sessions.

The game does not match players who are too far apart in their current player Level.

PvP Versus Play

Versus PvP allows players to face off against one another in combat. In the below outline, the player that gets invaded is the “Host” and the invader is the “guest.” Also note that in certain areas within the game, there can be up to two guests or invaders within a host’s game/world.

Versus Play Rules
When a host is in an area where a “bell-ringing woman” is present, Versus PvP invasions are possible.

The “bell-ringing woman” appears when playing cooperative play or when the “Sinister Resonant Bell” is used, but there are rare areas in the game where she appears on her own. The objective for the guest player that has invaded another player’s game is to defeat the host. If the invader is successful, s/he will be returned to his/her own game/world.

Initiating Versus play

1. Guest uses/rings the Sinister Resonant Bell.
2. Host begins cooperative play, or uses Sinister Resonant Bell to summon the bell-ringing woman.
3. Guest is transported to host’s game/world.
4. Host and guest play in Host’s game/world.

Hints

• When the Host’s Level is still low, the Bell-Ringing Woman will not appear when initiating Coop play.
• You can acquire the Sinister Resonant Bell from the Insight shop that appears in the Hunter’s Dream once you have at least 10 Insight points.

Versus Play Completion
If the guest is able to defeat the host, s/he will receive a reward and be returned to his/her game/world.

Versus Play Incompletion
If the guest dies, or the host makes it to the boss fight area, or if the guest chooses to use the Silencing Blank item, the guest is returned to his/her own game/world without receiving a reward for completing the versus play session.

Multiplayer within Chalice Dungeons

You can also play Multiplayer within Chalice Dungeons. In order to do so, all players must have the same Chalice Dungeon saved on their PS4. You can either share a dungeon you created from the Ritual Altar, or you can join dungeons created by other players via the “Ritual Altar” or the “Makeshift Altar.” By using Chalice Glyph, you can share a dungeon with just the person you have shared the Code with.

Hints

• There are certain requirements to joining a Chalice Dungeon created by another player.
• Normal Dungeons: If you have used that Chalice to create a dungeon, you will be able to join by searching.
• Root Chalice Dungeons: If you have already acquired the Root Chalice for that Ritual Level or Area, you can either search or join from search.

We will discuss Chalice Dungeons more in future posts here on the PlayStation.Blog. Please feel free to share your questions and comments below; the team will be reading.

On behalf of Japan Studio and FromSoftware, thank you to our beloved fans and the amazing PlayStation community for supporting Bloodborne. We’re overwhelmed with how the game has been received, and we look forward to continuing to fight alongside you (or against you) in and around Yharnam!

Club Nintendo US’s final Elite Rewards ⊟

No, it’s not a surprise exclusive item. It’s more game downloads! But there are some good ones in here, like Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Mario Kart 7, and Pushmo World.

Thanks one last time for the free stuff, Club Nintendo!

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Hyped af for the new Fire Emblem 3DS game ⊟

It isn’t coming out until 2016, but get a look at the trailer below – that music! Ninja stuff! You’re the main protagonist this time! Onii-chans!

The way Nintendo’s Bill Trinen described it, you pick one of two sides to play, “the peace-loving Hoshido [or] the glory-seeking Nohr.” The Hoshido side is meant to be more traditional and accessible, even to newcomers, tasking you with defending against Nohr invaders. With the Nohr path, you’ll be “forced to revolutionize an unruly kingdom from the inside, so the story will be slightly more complex, and the difficulty will be more challenging.”

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This Shin Megami Tensei & Fire Emblem Crossover Project trailer.. ⊟

Oh wow look at this. Look at that flying horse thing. I did not expect Nintendo to trot this out, after keeping quiet about the game since announcing it back in 2013! No word yet on when this Wii U-exclusive will be releasing, but at least we know (or can presume, what with this being shown in the North American Nintendo Direct) that this will release to the West. 

PREORDER Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 - Record Breaker

Oops. Ordering fast food when you're supposed to be reporting about traffic conditions is a bad idea. (more…)

TouchTone, a puzzle game about the dystopian present ⊟

We don’t talk too often about phone games here, but a) that’s about to change anyway, and b) I drop what I’m doing when there’s a new Mikengreg jam, or even a Mike or Greg jam. Everything out of that team or its constituents is special — Solipskier, for example, and Puzzlejuice.

TouchTone is no exception. It’s beautiful to look at, easy to understand, addictive. It’s also a deeply terrifying reflection of the surveillance state.

In the world of TouchTone, NSA-style surveillance is done in a distributed, crowdsourced manner, represented by a series of puzzles followed by text, email, and phone call logs. After reading each communication, you’re asked to judge whether it’s pertinent to national security. Is this one guy’s email to his friend a thinly veiled terrorist plot, or just inane chat?

The puzzles are in and of themselves very cool. You slide rows of tiles, Rubik’s Cube style, to line up a series of splitters and reflectors, to guide rays of colored light into matching goal lines. There’s a really exciting conflict between figuring out where all the tiles needed to be and how to get them there without accidentally shuffling ones you’ve already placed, and there’s a nice picross-esque sense of suddenly seeing how everything is supposed to line up.

Progressing through these cool puzzles, of course, also means progressing through the story, which means snooping through more and more (fictional I HOPE) communications and narcing on them. Even though it’s just a simulation, it turns out that this gets really uncomfortable, really quickly. 

I should really just ask the developers instead of conjecturing myself, but this seems like the message of TouchTone: I’m reading seemingly innocent people’s private communication, and I don’t want to, but I’m forced to be complicit in this activity, just as all American citizens are sort of inextricably involved in the NSA’s constant data mining. We may not be as intimately involved as in TouchTone, but we’re dragged into this cyberpunk nightmare anyway.

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He has severely limited vision, and is almost blind. He uses various assistive devices so that he can create these GIFs. Read the rest

Fantasy writer Terry Pratchett, creator of the "Discworld" series and author of more than 70 books, has died. He was 66.

Oops!



See more: Looper Death Stare

As part of a Netflix Hack Day, these fellow demonstrated Netflix access on a Nintendo Entertainment System.