Weekend Update: New PlayStation Store, Valkyria Trailer, More

Okay, as you know, I wasn't in New York this weekend. I was in Boston due to Family Matters (no deaths, nothing serious, no worries). I get back to see the readers of the site doing my job and posting the news in the comments for me. So here it is, the weekend update all in one post. Lets take a look.

• PlayStation Store Redesign Advertised on European Store - The European PlayStation Store features a banner on the right telling of a PlayStation Store redesign that is coming soon. (Thanks Anonymous!)
  
• Dylan Jobe Mentions New PlayStation Store for April - Along with the above, more confirmation came from Dylan Jobe where he confirmed in a comment on the PlayStation.Blog the new store coming next month. Jobe: "I know! April is crazy right? New store, new games… …and GT5 is wicked fun! I’ve been playing it way too much!" (Thanks Anonymous!)
• Valkyria Chronicles: Isara Gunther Trailer - A new Valkyria Chronicles trailer is online displaying Isara Gunther, the younger sister of the main character, Welkin Gunther. Enjoy it! (Thanks Jimmy!)
• Ubisoft Teases With New GRAW - It seems Ubisoft is planning on adding something to the Ghost Recon series, such as a Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 3 or something through a teaser on the website.
• Prototype Looses Multiplayer - Sierra's Prototype was supposed to feature online cooperative play, but it seems Radical is making it strictly single-player. Tim Benninson told Team XBOX that it wouldn't "be able to pull it off with the same level of quality and polish that we're aiming for with the original single player story." Too bad.
• PixelJunk Monsters Expansion Coming Soon - An upcoming expansion for PixelJunk Monsters titled PixelJunk Monsters: Encore will be hitting the store late April. It adds the island of Toki to the original game’s island of Tiki.

There is the update, after this, all news will be updated regularly as it was before my trip.

Warhawk Patch 1.4 to Feature New Game Modes

Dylan Jobe just keeps revealing more through PlayStation.Blog comments. A Warhawk player commented on when they will see new game modes and Jobe responded.

"So while I can’t say too much, I can say that the team is hard at work on developing some new game modes.

We have a lot of new designs at various phases of development so I can’t say which ones will make the cut for the v 1.4 patch just yet…but rest assure that the next patch *will* have new modes, and of course, they will be free."

Hmm, new modes. I wonder what they can be? Perhaps something completely different from game modes we'd expect. Lets hope they are innovative.

[PS.Blog Comment #26]

Warhawk Developer Working on New Game

They are called game developers because they develop games. Warhawk has been developed, so whats next for it's creator, Dylan Jobe? On the PlayStation.Blog, he mentioned a new game he is developing. "Begin development on a new game... *Check*". When we find out what this game is, we will be sure to keep you updated.

[Unsurprising: Warhawk dev working on new game]

Warhawk v1.3 Patch Trailer, Paint Job Contest Winners Announced

A new update from Dylan Jobe, Game Director of Incognito's Warhawk, shows us a new video for the upcoming v1.3 update. That video can be viewed above. They also announced the contest winners that will have their aircraft paint jobs featured in the v1.3 update. There are a lot of sick designs that won, so you should check them out at the link below.

[Warhawk Contest Winners! Plus v1.3 trailer!]

Warhawk v1.3 Patch Features Revealed

Dylan Jobe finally spilled the beans on the upcoming v1.3 update for Warhawk. First off, we are going to get some new troop equipment. One is the Mechanic's Field Wrench which lets you repair vehicles. Another is the Bio-Field Generator, which regenarates health for teammates, and damages enemies.

Next up is Home Inegration. Players can now form groups, meet up, dicsuss game tactics, then launch a game of Warhawk together. So once Home arrives, you'll be able to do it right away. This also hints that the release isn't far off. There is more to come for Warhawk's Home integration, but they can't show it all now.

Players now have a choice for a PTT VOIP and an Open-Mic. This is one of my favorite new features, because it was really annoying pushing in L3 to talk. Players speaking now appear on the right side of the screen as well with the talk icon next to their name.

Finally, there are some new paint schemes and insignias, which you can view at the link. They are looking good, so I really suggest checking everything out at the link below.

[Warhawk v1.3 Patch details]

Warhawk: Omega Dawn FAQ

Dylan Jobe updated us today on the upcoming Warhawk: Omega Dawn expansion pack coming to the PLAYSTATION Store this Thursday December 20, 2007 for $7.99. A quick reminder that the v1.2 update will be hitting tomorrow as well.

He posted up a FAQ answering the users many questions. Some of the questions he answers is if it will be available from the in-game store as well, how the dropships will work on old maps if you don't have the new pack. It's a quite interesting read. Visit the FAQ at the link below.

[Read: Omega Dawn FAQ]

Dylan Jobe Chimes In On Warhawk's Operation: Omega Dawn, Priced

Dylan Jobe updated us today on the official PlayStation.Blog with some information Warhawk's first piece of downloadable content, Operation: Omega Dawn.

Jobe wanted to create an expansion that changes the gameplay of Warhawk and enhance it's replayability status, not just some add-on that takes advantage of the player's wallet. This new expansion will come with three new features:

- A night-time battlefield with 6 layouts called the “Omega Factory”. It's huge.
- New 7-player aircraft called the KT-424 Combat Dropship.
- And 5 updated bonus layouts for battlefields from the original game so that you can play using the new Dropship.

He explains the new battlefield. He says that since many players wanted a level in the night, they listened and did it. The battlefield takes place at early dawn, with Jobe making ot more challenging and visually improved than the previous Warhawk levels. The level involves more building layouts and structures, platforms and detailed spaces for ground troops.

There are some places in the level only accessible by flying there, which is really cool for transporting vehicles.

He goes on talking about the Combat Dropship, saying that it's "pretty damn sweet". They integrated the new Dropship in the 5 biggest layouts from the original Warhawk game. He says "it really changes the way those levels play which is good ‘cause it gives them a fresh feel".

The expansion will be releasing this December after they pass and go gold. The price of this expansion will be $7.99 on the PLAYSTATION Store. He questions the one penny off rule.

[Via PlayStation.Blog]

Warhawk v1.1 Coming Tomorrow

The new Warhawk patch is going to be globally deploying the v1.1 during an extended maintenance window Friday, November 2nd between 5am and 9am Pacific Time.

Here are some of the issues the patch addresses:

Server-Side

• Stat database stability improvements
• Improved server stability
• Max Clan limit changed from 32 to 64
• Viral Rank-up bug fixed and correct for players that were accidentally ranked up.
• “Time-in-Vehicle” Stats fixed so certain awards can now be granted properly.
  

Client-Side (this is the one that you will actually download to your PS3)

• Stat connection, fetch/post fixes
• Significantly improved client connection stability
• Quad “????” Ping display bug fixed.
• Added support for Player-Ranked Servers.
• Game synchronization fixes due to fluctuating network conditions (packet-drop).
• Crash fixes for end of game and split screen.

Dylan Jobe also points out:

"A couple of things that I want to point out. Some of you were able to download the v1.1 patch before it was "officially" ready. Since this occurred without the server-side updates to compliment it, not all of the fixes would have functioned. Specifically the viral-rank-up fix and the time-in-vehicle stat fix. Once we bring the system back online Friday, 9am Pacific, these fixes will be functional.

Also, once we deploy the patch, when you boot Warhawk, you will be prompted by the XMB to download the v1.1 patch. This is a fast download so it's not a time killer. Once the XMB has pulled the patch down, Warhawk will boot back up and be happy! You will also notice a "v1.1" in the lower right corner of the screen."

Be prepared for it's coming tomorrow.

[Via PS Boards]

Warhawk 1.1 Patch Escapes Early

Dylan Jobe writes:

"Warhawk Community … I swear there was supposed to be text with the headline above (for those who saw this post before 8pm PT). What I meant to say was …

This afternoon, some of our US players were inadvertently able to download the v1.1 patch prior to its official, worldwide deployment. This problem has been resolved and the v1.1 patch has been taken offline until we finalize our global test cycle.

We super apologize for the inconvenience — we all want the patch out as soon as possible, but we need to wait for it to clear the last stages of our world-wide test before we “pull-the-trigger.”

So…for those players that were using the Blu-ray version of Warhawk that *did* update to v1.1 today, we advise that you go to the XMB (cross media bar), and in your “Game Data Utility”, delete your Warhawk game data. Once you’ve done that, just re-boot Warhawk and the game will re-install v1.0, allowing you to play with the 1.0 world again. And I know you’ll all ask this…it will *not* affect your stats or Save Data.

Also please note that this inadvertent pre-release of v1.1 *only* affected players using the Blu-ray version of the game in the US. All
other countries and products were unaffected.

Once more, we are very sorry for the unscheduled, unplanned, preview roll-out v1.1

We are still tracking the end of October for the “real” deployment of the patch and, as always, we will keep you all posted!"

[Via PlayStation.Blog]

Warhawk v1.2 Patch Detailed

Last week, Dylan Jobe posted about the v1.1 patch. Now he introduces us to v1.2, which is currently in it's testing stages. Jobe writes:
Patch v1.2 addresses some main requests that our community has made as well as fixes the primary exploits and glitches … and adds some new layouts!

Patch v1.2 includes:

• 5 New layouts.
• Clan game server option.
• Buddy slot reservations.
• Integrated Warhawk Store.
• Updated CTF capture/return behavior.
• Internal stat padder protection.
• Booster Pack status display at join game list.
• DualShock3 integration.
• Separate SIXAXIS motion control on/off per mode (ground, hover, flight).
• Detailed Player Score display at end of game fixed.
• Added new server type filters (player, ranked, dedicated, clan, Official Warhawk, etc).
• Added new server full/open filter.
• Fall damage exploit fixed.
• Dismount into walls exploit fixed.
• Invisible Tank, Turret & Warhawk exploit fixed.
• Auto-kick of idle players.
• Add to Favorites button added to end game screen.
• Increased VOIP volume when not using headset.

He goes into clarification with the items on the list:

The new clan-game server option lets you set 2 clan names, one for the Eucadian team and one for the Chernovan team. Then, when you launch the game, the server will auto-sort the clans on the correct teams. The server will also only allow members of those 2 clans to connect. Clan games are also displayed in a different color at the join game list.

Buddy slot reservations allow you to specify a number of player slots on the server that *only* players in your PSN buddy list can join. So go ahead and kick up a game and you can always make sure that you friends can jump in with you and get their Warhawk on!

We also fixed what a lot of players refer to as the “tank” glitch. This actually could happen to turrets and Warhawks too. It is an annoying exploit and we’re happy to have it fixed – I’m sure all of you will be too!

We enabled DualShock3 functionality in the V1.2 patch too … maybe you all have heard something about this or read about it on the internet? Ha Ha :-)

The Warhawk Store is also going to be enabled in v1.2. This allows players to purchase Warhawk content, Booster Packs, etc from within Warhawk, rather than going through the XMB and then to the store – this is mainly for convenience.

And of course some new layouts – as you’ve seen from the images scattered throughout this post!

We have found that while a lot of players like playing the really large games, there was a pretty big segment that was playing smaller games. With that trend, we wanted to rig some new layouts that are more geared for smaller games; 4 to 8 players. The new layouts are:

• Eucadia: High City
• Island Outpost: Standoff
• The Badlands: South City
• Destroyed Capitol: Garden Showdown
• Archipelago: Close Corridors

So there you have it. The update list for patch v1.2 that is currently being tested right now and we are tracking an early to mid December global release.

And of course I can’t end this post without mentioning the Booster Pack. So there, I said it…”Booster Pack” :-)

LOLOLOL

No seriously … my next post in just a few days will give you all a glimpse of an internal gameplay session we had with the Booster Pack. It’s just a glimpse because as I’ve said before, our top priority has been on the v1.1 and v1.2 updates.

Over and out…

Thats one huge update, look forward too it Warhawk players.

[Via PS.Blog]

Warhawk v1.1 Patch and Arbiters

Dylan Jobe: "Hey everyone, its been awhile since I last made a post here. The team and I have been cranking away on support and updates for Warhawk and I thought it’d be a good idea to give you all an update as to what the hell we’ve been up to.

So … since my last post, we’ve launched Warhawk in South-East Asia, Korea and Japan — which now means our community spans 15 different languages! "

[Warhawk v1.1 Patch and Arbiters]