Grave Gamer News & Views — ps4

Official Deus Ex: Mankind Divided cover art. 

Say it with me now: Day-Us Ecks. You’re very welcome.

Good News, Everybody! PSN is Still Down

Well, it seemed like good news around 3:30AM EST when I checked on the PlayStation Store. On PS4, instead of an oppressive blue screen of nothingness that only alters to cry about server woes, the store actually worked, giving the thousands of us night owls first wind of an online-capable future.

Then PSN took another big shit and stopped working. This pushes us into the third day of the Sony network’s inactivity since it was supposedly “taken down” on Christmas Day, alongside Microsoft’s Xbox Live service, by a group of hackers that call themselves “The Lizard Squad.”

The hackers’ reasoning for this attack on home entertainment? ”Microsoft and Sony are fucking retarded, literally monkeys behind computers,” one Lizard said in an interview with The Daily Dot, and the attack was meant to illustrate both corporations’ failings when it comes to online defense. The hacker goes on to say companies like Microsoft and Sony would be wise to hire criminals given their proven successes in the field — a Suicide Squad of nerds, basically.

There is some doubt about The Lizard Squad’s involvement with the outages, however. Especially in Sony’s case, in which crucial, and private, information was hacked and leaked last month thanks to our friends in North Fucking Korea (spawning The Interview debacle — yet another struggle over mere entertainment). The Squad even claims their denial-of-service attacks only spanned 12 to 14 hours Christmas Day, and yet PSN is still KO’d. Online gaming could have bigger enemies than a faceless group of kids “doin’ it for the lulz.”

While Xbox Live has recovered, returning to a functional state sometime yesterday, PSN’s troubles are still extending across the PS3, Vita, and PS4. That means no games (or services) can be downloaded, nor can media apps (like Netflix and Hulu) be used.

It’s a critical strike against the company given that many new customers will have received brand new consoles over the holiday; brand new consoles that don’t work as intended. Currently, Sony has not spoken publicly about PSN’s continued troubles. We’ll update as word comes in.

Put on Your Hater Blockers — DmC: Devil May Cry is Coming to PS4/Xbone

When Ninja Theory’s bold, stylish reworking of the Devil May Cry mythos released in 2013, there was an avalanche sized disparity between critical reception, which deemed the game a phenomenal treat for the hack n’ slash genre, and fan opinion, which assessed that Dante’s lack of white hair and excision of anime-flavored over-the-topness made DmC fucking trash, and NT the worst developer in the world.

If you let the haters dissuade you from this radical reboot last year, allow The Herb to set you straight: DmC is my favorite Devil May Cry game. I have played each and all, repeatedly. But I love this one the best. Maybe now you’ll get to see why in next-gen.

Releasing both digitally and retail-ally for PS4 and Xbox One (is everyone cool if we just start abbreviating that as ‘XO’?), DmC: Devil May Cry Definitive Edition packs the original game, every piece of DLC from costumes to the trippy side-campaign, Vergil’s Downfall, and blends it with a shitload of new modes and features.

The already fluid game now runs at 60fps in 1080p. The gameplay has been tweaked and tinkered to max efficiency — bugs have been squashed, uneven AI has been rebalanced, the Style system can now be made harder to master, and thanks to player demand, a manual lock-on can be implemented a la DMC1.

A new Hardcore Mode has been added for those craving old school ass-walloping; Turbo Mode has returned, featuring 20% more speed; a new difficulty, Gods Must Die, starts enemies in Devil Trigger, gives them increased damage, and denies you item use (masochists wanted); and now Mr. Vergil has his own Bloody Palace to eviscerate demons in.

DmC: Devil May Cry Definitive Edition re-drops March 17th, 2015. I’m hoping against all hope that a renewed interest in this reboot might push Capcom into greenlighting a direct sequel. It would be the ultimate crime if Ninja Theory’s vibrant, vivid world only gets one chance; a worse crime than no white hair.

(‘Course, if you’re really hard up for the two-dimensional, walked-straight-out-of-a-manga Dante, Capcom is also releasing a Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition onto next-gen platforms sometime in the summer.)

Official Trailer Hereabouts!

PlayStation Experience 2014, Las Vegas, Nevada - Day 2

Holy shit, I love it. IT’S ON.