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The Last Clockwinder brings clever automation puzzles to PS VR 2

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You find yourself in control of the Clockwinder’s Gloves – an incredible invention that lets you record anything you do with your hands and turn that action into a robot clone that repeats exactly what you did in a loop. These clones are called Gardeners, and you’re going to need their help to save your childhood home. Use the clones to harvest plants, operate machinery, and even throw things to yourself and catch them across the room. There’s no single solution to any challenge: you can create marvels of precision efficiency or hare-brained Rube Goldberg machines. The only limit is your own creativity.

The Last Clockwinder brings clever automation puzzles to PS VR 2

The Last Clockwinder is a unique mix of automation and puzzle gameplay. Since its launch the game has been widely recognized for its innovative design, receiving several awards including Road To VR’s Best PC VR Game of 2022, Hardcore Gamer’s Best VR Game of 2022, and Finalist at the DICE Awards in both VR categories. We’re thrilled to bring The Last Clockwinder to PlayStation VR2 on February 22.

A mechanic made for VR

We’re big fans of automation games, but our least favorite part about automation is putting in the instructions for the things you want to automate. Selecting, dragging, moving timelines around – it can get very fiddly! This is where automation with clones is different.

In The Last Clockwinder, the way that you tell a clone what to do is by simply doing it yourself. With the press of a button you start recording yourself. Your hands, head, and all your inputs are recorded for a short time. While recording, you can grab objects, throw and catch, use tools – pretty much anything. When the recording is finished, a clone appears where you were and starts repeating the actions that you just did on a loop. Clones can be created with 2, 4, or 8 second loops, and the recording system ensures that clones will stay synchronized. No fiddling required!

Creating an interface this expressive and easy to use was only possible with VR. With precise tracking and free 3D movement there’s zero friction between thinking something and doing it. This is a game mechanic that is truly unique to VR.

Exploration and optimization

To progress in the game, you’ll need to make teams of clones working together to harvest resources from plants. You’ll use these resources for many things: powering machinery, creating new plant seeds, and unlocking rooms within the Clocktower.

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Kayak VR: Mirage joins the PS VR2 launch line-up

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Paddle through the ice caves in Antarctica, kayak with dolphins in Costa Rica, conquer a thunderstorm in Norway and discover the canyons of Australia. In our kayaking game, made exclusively for VR, you can explore these real world locations with photorealistic graphics. And it’s looking better than ever on PS VR2 as Kayak VR: Mirage joins PS VR2’s launch line up.

Kayak VR: Mirage joins the PS VR2 launch line-up

The perfect showcase for PS VR2

Kayak VR: Mirage is a great game for newcomers and veterans of VR alike. Compared to most forms of locomotion in VR, paddling allows for a natural and intuitive way to move through an environment, making it a great game to show off your brand-new headset to friends and family. 

Besides the visual fidelity we also spent a lot of time on the game’s physics. While new players can quickly get the hang of the kayaking, more experienced kayakers are able to maneuver with the accuracy they’d expect from a real kayak. This focus on natural physics also applies to the rest of the environment: plants, floating ice and debris all respond realistically to your paddle and kayak.  

Unwind on the water

When designing the environments, we wanted you to feel like you’ve arrived at the perfect time. Paddle underneath the Aurora Australis, marvel at a whale that comes up for air or listen to the water breaking on the cliffs. These calming moments were designed to counterbalance the plethora of high intensity games available in VR and help you unwind after a long day or an intense gaming session.

Sea and wildlife are a big part of our design philosophy. Watch penguins jumping off ice cliffs, a turtle making its way from the beach to the water and dolphins swimming alongside you when you pick up speed. You can even try catching a fish with your paddle. But take it gently, like real fish, they’ll swim away dynamically based on the location and speed of the impact. 

As for the free Given Time campaign expansion due later this month, here’s a showcase.

Jett: The Far Shore’s new campaign, Given Time, available for free on January 31

You’ll be able to start the Given Time campaign separately in the main menu, whether you’ve played the original game or not. Progress in the campaigns are saved separately, so you can start one and switch to the other, and back again, although Jett is probably best enjoyed chronologically.

The new Given Time campaign takes place three years following the end of the events of The Far Shore. Note: some very light plot spoilers ahead in th

A Father’s Love – Building The Last of Us Episode 1 

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In one horrific night, Joel’s life is changed forever. As the player’s introduction to the world of The Last of Us, the evening spent with Joel, Sarah, and Tommy as the cordyceps outbreak changes everything cements the tone, style, and stakes of the franchise’s world. Whether you experienced that opening nearly a decade ago, or just recently via The Last of Us Part I on the PlayStation 5 console or The Last of Us on HBO, Joel’s harrowing night is an effective and necessary introduction to fully understanding Joel and Ellie’s journey throughout the rest of the game. 

To help us understand how that sequence came to be, and how its legacy lives on today, members of the Naughty Dog team and HBO show spoke about the work undertaken originally to create such an evocative opening, and how The Last of Us Part I brings these moments to fresh life. 


Spoilers ahead if you haven’t played or watched The Last of Us!


A Father’s Love – Building The Last of Us Episode 1 

The End Is the Beginning

While the introduction is also The Last of Us’ first chance to leave an impression on the player, the Naughty Dog team obviously iterated and adjusted this sequence throughout development. One of the most significant among those? Players would have, originally, had control of Joel much earlier. 

“The beginning of the game was one of the last things we got finalized when we were making The Last of Us,” Naughty Dog President and The Last of Us Co-Director Neil Druckmann said. “For a long time, the plan was to play as Joel, not to play as Sarah, and you as Joel would hear commotion over at your neighbor’s house, you would walk over there, you’d see they’re infected. Then you’d head back and grab your daughter…and then everything else [in the final game] was how it was planned.” 

But starting the adventure and experiencing all that through Joel’s perspective felt… familiar to the team. In wanting to differentiate the story from others in its genre, the idea of playing as Sarah came up during a design brainstorm.  With that, “everything kind of fell into place” according to Druckmann. 

“That felt like a really unique take on [this story]. The fact that you

Returnal launches on PC February 15 

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It’s a new year and we are that much closer to the PC release of Returnal – we’re thrilled to reveal that PC players can join Selene on Atropos on February 15, 2023!

Returnal launches on PC February 15 

So far, not many details have been released on any specific features that will add to the experience and immersion on PC, so let’s get to the good stuff.

NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR have been added, allowing you to dial up your framerate without compromising on resolution. NVIDIA NIS has also been added for those players who also want to see an increase in performance, but don’t have the hardware to support DLSS or FSR.*

Returnal also supports ray-traced shadows as before, but now our friends at Climax Studios have added the support for RT reflections as well. This will make the contrast of a dark setting and neon bullets pop out even more than before.* All of this can be now seen in two new wide resolution formats, Ultrawide at 21:9 and Super Ultrawide 32:9.** Think of all of that screen real estate that you will be able to take in when you’re not in the middle of a giant boss fight.

Returnal PC SPECS

MINIMUMMEDIUMRECOMMENDEDEPICRAY TRACING
AVG Performance 720P @ 60FPS1080P @ 60FPS1080P @ 60FPS4K @ 60FPS4K @ 60FPS*
Graphics SettingsLowMediumHighEpicEpic
GPUNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB)
AMD Radeon RX 580 (8 GB)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB)
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (6 GB)
NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super (8 GB)
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (12 GB)
NVIDIA RTX 3080 (10 GB)
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (16 GB)
NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti (12 GB)
AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT (16 GB)
CPUIntel Core i5-6400 (4 core 2.7GHz)
AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (4 core 3.5GHz)
Intel Core i5-8400 (6 core 2.8GHz)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 (6 core 3.4GHZ)
Intel i7-8700 (6 core 3.7 GHz)
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (8 core 3.7 GHz)
Intel i7-9700K (8 core 3.7 GHz)
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (8 core 3.6 GHz)
Intel i9-11900K (8 core 3.5 GHz)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X (12 core 3.7 GHz)
RAM16 GB DDR416 GB

Tchia will release Spring 2023 on PS4 & PS5: fresh gameplay details shared

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Hey everyone, happy 2023! I’m Phil Crifo, Tchia’s Game Director and Awaceb Co-founder. Last year was a very busy and exciting one for us, and I would like to give you an update on the development of Tchia and offer a sneak peek into the game. As you’ll see, it has come a long way, and we’re happy to announce the game is coming to PS4 & PS5 this Spring (stay tuned!).

A trip to our homeland

As you may know, Tchia is inspired by our homeland, New Caledonia, and it was super important for us that folks who worked on the game got to experience those landscapes, wildlife, cultures, languages and customs firsthand. If you’re interested in finding out more, we have already released a 3-part series on the topic.

Tchia will release Spring 2023 on PS4 & PS5: fresh gameplay details shared

Everything in Tchia is infused with the local culture of New Caledonia. This includes all the various landscapes that we recreated in the open-world archipelago, and that you can freely explore, swim or navigate around, and even climb on if you’d like!

This is also the case with our cast of characters that you will meet throughout your journey. We have worked with local talent to voice everyone you will encounter in either Drehu (one of the most ancient local New Caledonian languages) and French. As you can freely explore the archipelago in Tchia, we encourage you to try out various side quests to acquaint yourself with some of the island’s inhabitants and learn more about their culture and individual personalities.

Music, finally, is a major component of your adventure. All sounds and sonorities are inspired by traditional New Caledonian culture and folklore. You’ll try these out for yourself using your trustworthy Ukulele!

Games Under 20 promotion comes to PlayStation Store

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PlayStation Store welcomes the Games Under 20 promotion on Wednesday, January 18. For a limited time*  enjoy great games at compelling prices. That includes the like of Call of Duty: Black Ops III – Zombies Chronicles Edition, with 72% off the PS4 version,  67% off of the PS4 and PS5 versions of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege Deluxe Edition and 50% off God of War III Remastered on PS4.