25w ago - Creator Ramiro Corbetta has introduced Sportsfriends: Hokra today complete with a PSN preview video for fans below.

To quote: I'm Ramiro Corbetta, creator of Hokra, one of the four games that make up Sportsfriends.

If you don't know about Sportsfriends, it's a compendium of four super fun local multiplayer games that's coming to PSN in 2013. Over the last couple of weeks, two of the other designers involved in Sportsfriends spoke about their games (you can read about Noah Sasso's BaraBariBall and about Bennett Foddy's Super Poler Riders), and today I get to write about my game.

Hokra is a minimalist sports game for two teams of two players. Players score points by holding the balls in the goals of their color on the corners of the screen. This video I did with Kotaku does a great job of explaining the basics of the game:





The rules are quite simple, but the game has a lot of depth to it. Even though I have played it for innumerable hours, I'm still finding new techniques and strategies when I play against expert competition.

When I started working on Hokra, I wasn't exactly making a game. I had been playing lots of FIFA, and like many other people, my favorite part of the game is...

85w ago - While Online Pass for EA Sports titles is familiar, awhile back we reported that Sony was considering it for other PS3 titles followed by the introduction of PSN Pass for Resistance 3, and today Sony confirmed to Destructoid.com (linked above) that all future PSN games will include it.

To quote: "Following an earlier statement from a Spanish Sony representative, Sony Computer Entertainment America has confirmed that an online pass will be included with Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. Furthermore, we've been told that ALL upcoming Sony games that feature an online component will include one.

"Online Pass will be incorporated into Uncharted 3 and future Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS) games with online functionality," the company told Destructoid. "We will provide further information in the future."

So there you go. It's pretty much a given that if...

98w ago - Update: Sony has now confirmed PSN Pass to IGN, stating the program requires customers to input a one-time use code to access a game's online capabilities similar to EA's Online Pass.

Today Darko on German site Konsolentreff.net (linked above) has shared an image uncovering Sony's PSN Pass on a Resistance 3 PS3 bundle box.

The text in the image reads as following: "PSN Pass. Network features only available in countries that have PlayStation Store."

While there is currently no official announcement on what PSN Pass is from Sony, Kotaku reports that it may be similar to EA's Online Pass which provides online access to those who either purchase a new copy of a game or those who pay the extra ten bucks to buy their way into networked features.

To quote: "Sony has employed the practice before, selling "Online Entitlement" passes for PSP games SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 and ModNation Racers.

We don't yet know if PSN Pass is real, whether...

143w ago - President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Andrew House has revealed to GamesIndustry.biz that Sony is currently examining the Online Pass model for first-party PS3, PSP and PSN titles.

Both EA and THQ already use an Online Pass system for their multiplayer titles, allowing publishers to reclaim some money from the used video game market as those buying second-hand will need to purchase an online pass for the multiplayer component of the game.

To quote: "Activision's Bobby Kotick had said his company would like to see a subscription based service, however House seemed to warn against this.

"In terms of just a charge for basic online play, that's something that we have to talk about a lot more and we struggle with a little bit because we feel very vindicated and base a lot of the success of PSN today - a 70 per cent connection rate across consoles - on the fact that we've removed that major initial barrier to entry," concluded House."

Finally, Sony has already implemented a similar pass system for PSP shooter SOCOM:...