Yesterday, Sony’s cloud-based solution to playing Playstation Vita games – as well as past and (some) present Playstation console games – on your TV became a reality when the PlayStation Vita TV launched in Japan. In case you haven’t been following it, the Vita TV is a miniaturised “micro” console that connects to your TV via HDMI; and is primarily intended to allow you to play games from the Playstation Vita hand-held console on the big screen, but is also capable of playing some other titles available on the PSN Store as well.

Some committed gamers have already imported the Japanese console, but trying it out has revealed a roadblock. While the Vita TV does not appear to be region-locked – despite only being launched in Japan, some non-Japanese region games are available on the console already and appear to be perfectly playable – users who have attempted to sign in to the console using a PSN account registered outside of Japan have been unable to get in, with the console reporting “This service is not available in your country/region”. It appears right now, only Japanese PSN accounts can login to the console – and this also applies to the games, with the console refusing to play games bought from Western accounts even if the title is supported. It’s assumed the Vita TV to PSN compatibility, like the console itself, has only been launched in Japan so far, so this situation may change when launches are made to other Asian regions next year.

Thankfully, thanks to sources like Kotaku, we have been able to see how the console works to users who have been able to access it. Setting up the console is, apparently, an identical process to that on the Vita itself, with a short series of screens asking you to choose your language (English is supported already), enter your location, set the clock and give your PSN login credentials if you so wish. Once this is done, games can be sent to the console by downloading them from the Playstation Store; while you can grab your Save files by plugging in the Vita Memory Stick with the saves you want to use or, if you’re a Playstation Plus subscriber, pulling them from your PS+ Cloud.

What games? Sony have an official list on their Japanese website of compatible PS Vita games, which at time of writing lists 153 different titles. Interestingly, while some of these titles are big-name games, a far greater number are smaller affairs such as bargain-bin puzzlers or titles intended as study tools for Japanese school kids. Also, some of the supported titles, like Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster, are currently unreleased – planning for the future, Sony? However, while the console currently only plays compatible games bought on Japanese PSN Accounts, non-Japanese titles are supported if they’re available on the Japanese PSN Store, such as the North American Lumines Electronic Symphony. It seems Sony are serious with the list of “compatible” games, as if you try to load a game the Vita TV does not yet support, Vita TV will not be able to start it at all.

If 153 titles seems a bit paltry to you right now, you may be pleased to know that the Vita TV is also able to play games from the original Playstation Portable (PSP) console as well as classic games from the very first PlayStation (PS1) home console, as long as those games are available for download from the PSN Store. This expands the collection of games currently available to thousands, if you don’t mind a little nostalgia. More titles will likely be added over time.

Controlling the games on the console is possible through connecting a PS Vita to the Vita TV; or by using a DualShock 3 controller – the DualShock 4 controllers available for the PS4 are not yet supported, but a software patch in the future will change this. One problem with this approach is the DualShock 3 has no touch controls like the PS Vita or the newer controllers, but many of the games that will be available on the Vita TV expect some sort of touch-screen input. Thankfully Sony have thought about this – sorry Wikipedia, your claim that “certain games are not compatible with PS Vita TV, such as those that are dependent on the system’s touch-screen, rear touchpad…” has just been proven false – through touch-screen emulation.

The Vita TV contains a virtual touch screen, which can be enabled in the console’s Options menu. When enabled, pressing R3 or L3 turns the thumbsticks into mouse pointers which you can use to “touch” the screen. Pressing R3 gives you two pointers for the front panel, L3 gives two for the back, and both R3 and L3 at the same time gives you two cursors pressing front and back at the same time. Some games have to be patched to support this feature – but if so, the Vita TV will make you aware of this and offer to automatically download the patch before you play.

Currently, there is no news for a Western launch of Vita TV – but we’d be surprised if it never happened. Stay tuned!

Where to start? That must be the big question facing DICE right now as they try and wrangle Battlefield 4 into a stable state. Players have been reporting disconnection errors, freezes, crashes and a smattering of bugs. DICE have tabled a list of fixes they’re working on on the Battlefield 4 forums, which includes a bug that stops server queues from working and various client instability problems.

Players have also been finding some odd errors, YouTubers TeamTooHeavy have posted a video that apparently shows the silencer on the QBU88 muting sound on a server. More worryingly, many players have been reporting netcode issues, which cause a discrepancy between the game logic that denotes where shots are going and when they hit, and what you’re actually seeing on-screen. If netcode’s laggy the game might tell you that you’ve just git a soldier seven times in the chest and been suddenly killed, while from your killer’s perspective he’s rounded the corner and shot you fair and square. Redditor Hickery123 has rounded up some pretty blatant video examples of this happening here.

DICE are patching speedily, thankfully, which marks a change from Battlefield 3 when every patch had to go through Microsoft and Sony bureaucracy. A lot of Battlefield 4’s multiplayer component operates server-side, so they no longer have to deploy updates and downloads to every player’s PC to deal with issues. Battlefield 3 also had some major problems on release, and ended up okay, but it’s a particularly frustrating situation when a big open beta event happened just weeks ago.

The connection issues seem to be affecting 64 player servers more frequently, so you might want to steer clear of those for a while. If the server runs into an error, all of the levelling progress you made during the match will be lost, but reportedly this will suck up XP boost time regardless, so it’s best to save those until the server issues are fixed.

Activision has officially confirmed ‘Extinction’ mode for Call of Duty: Ghosts following leaks which revealed the mode over the weekend.

The publisher has released an official trailer showing the new four-player co-op mode in action

According to the brief official blurb, Extinction is “an all-new 1-4 player cooperative game mode featuring a unique blend of fast-paced survival action, FPS base defence, scavenging and class levelling”.

The game’s official Facebook page calls it “co-op survival madness, with aliens”.

The video appears to show players using drill-like devices to destroy alien hives. Players work together to protect the drilling devices from incoming hordes of four-legged aliens.

Extinction mode was first outed when screenshots and teaser footage was leaked over the weekend.

The Call of Duty: Ghosts release date is set for November 5 on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and PC. It will also arrive alongside the PS4 and Xbox One on their respective launches in November.

The latest title update for Grand Theft Auto V goes up today and it’s supposed to do away with one of the game’s most annoying bugs. Hopefully, players won’t have to worry about cars and other vehicles disappearing from garages.

Here’s the list of issues that Rockstar says should be resolved with the new update:

– Fixes numerous issues that were causing vehicle loss and/or loss of vehicle mods
– Fixes an issue where the incorrect car is replaced when choosing to replace a car in a full garage
– Fixes an exploit allowing players to sell the same vehicle multiple times
– Fixes an issue that caused personal vehicles to be duplicated
– Fixes an issue where some players were unable to pay utility bills on an owned apartment or house
– Fixes an issue where players were not getting Crew invites in-game
– Fixes an issue where the starting point for the tutorial race was not appearing
– Fixes issues with joining Jobs from within a player-owned garage
– Fixes issues with players getting stuck while using playlists
– Fixes additional issues causing black screens, long load times, and players getting stuck in the sky cam
– Adds details in the UI to clarify that characters created while Rockstar cloud is unavailable are temporary (non-saved)
– Adds changes to the character creator to make better-looking default characters with the “random” option
– Players now only lose a maximum of 500 GTA$ upon death in Freemode

This is presumably the update that preps for the in-game cash infusion that Rockstar’s giving players to apologize for GTA Online’s troubled launch. That $500,000 should be hitting soon. If you get a lot richer inside the multiplayer version of Los Santos, let us know.

The guys over at The Elder scrolls Online just posted a new character creation video of what to expect

Take a look below 🙂

Watch our new video to get a taste of the diverse customization options you’ll have at your fingertips in The Elder Scrolls Online.

 

Even though creating your character is just the first step on your adventure, it’s an important one. We want to give you the tools you need to realize the hero you’re already envisioning, and we’re excited to give you a peek at some of the options you’ll use to create the character you want to play in ESO. Take a look at our new video and let us know what you think.

What do you think?