The early edition of VGQH this week is a strange one. There’s not really much to update, and what little I’ve got is a mixed bag.
Firstly, Square Enix has filed for a trademark on the title Hitman: Absolution. This basically just confirms that the fifth game in the series is coming, which has been known for some time. But giving it a title is encouraging that it will be on its way pretty soon. I expect you’ll see some big exposure for this one at E3. And, if you’ve been following Agent 47 for the last 11 years, you should definitely recognize why Absolution is such a great title.
The outage on Sony’s PSN continues. Sony has occasionally updated the masses with postings on the PlayStation Blog, but they don’t have an ETA for online gaming. The outage started last Wednesday and, as of this writing, is still down. Based on Sony’s limited reports to the public, the servers were attacked by an outside source (hackers) that has since been stopped. The continued maintenance errors you get when attempting to log in come from Sony upgrading their security measures. Time will tell what this means for trophies you’ve synced to their servers, cloud based saves you’ve loaded, DLC history, etc. It’s also unclear what data may have been lost or stolen in the hacking of the server. I imagine Sony would have contacted their users by now if credit card information was breached. While Sony has not mentioned it, I have to think that users who pay for subscription services (Plus, DCU Online, Qriocity, etc.) could request some compensation. For those who use their PS3s to watch Netflix, you may not realize that still works. The program will bug you about signing in to PSN, but as long as you keep exiting the log in screen it will eventually let you watch your movies. [Also, please note, any attempt to start a console flaming war in the comments because of this outage will be deleted. Unless you’re a representative from Valve, because this has got to hurt after the Portal 2/PS3 team up.]
If you’ve heard anything about Atlus’ upcoming game, Catherine, your response has probably been WTF? That’s consistently what goes through my head every time I hear more about it. Apparently the game focuses on Vincent and his internal struggle with his relationship to two women, Catherine and Katherine. While earlier screens may have hinted at it being interactive Hentai, that does not seem to be the case. The new screens look less explicit, and having English subtitles means most of the western world is just now discovering that the game seems to be questioning our society’s moral traditions. I’ve included one of the shots below, but you may just want to check Game Informer’s whole batch. The US release is scheduled for this summer.
That’s really all for the early edition? I guess. My excitement for a franchise has been invigorated at the same time that my excitement about gaming is being tempered by hackers creating a network failure. Meanwhile, the half of my brain that wants to play interactive Japanese porn has been sent into confusion with talks of marriage. Hopefully we’ll have a bigger news week and more clarity for the late edition on Friday. Happy gaming!