88w ago - Today Playbrains Studio Director Scott Simpson has made available some new video footage and announced that beginning now Sideway: New York is live only on PSN!

To quote: In Hollywood circles, there is a well-known tradition where Steven Spielberg and George Lucas will skip town and go somewhere remote right about when they have a big movie opening.

They do this mostly for good luck, but also to avoid the press and ignore the grosses. Basically, they generally try to get their mind off of the project they've dedicated much of their recent lives to create.

I mention this because our adventure platformer Sideway: New York is all wrapped and done and will be available only on PSN as of today's PlayStation Store update. I also mention this because at this moment, a few of us here at the studio are out in Zimbabwe embarking on a new work project. (Oooh, I can just see the screaming blog headlines now: "Game Developer compares his game to Star Wars").





I mention this preamble principally because my beloved perfect record for responding to questions and comments on the PlayStation.Blog is (*sniff*) about to be sullied and...

90w ago - Sony Senior Social Media Manager Jeff Rubenstein has posted up a video and interview with Scott Simpson of Playbrains today on Sideway: New York - a new PSN dimension to street art.

To quote: Sony Online Entertainment is really making its mark on PSN this fall. Rolling out alongside the excellent Rochard and the highly-anticipated PAYDAY: The Heist, Sideway: New York brings an impressive visual flourish to 2D platformers.

Painted protagonist Nox keeps switching planes in 3D as he hugs the walls and jumps from building to building. Take a look at the trailer below.

At last week's Fantastic Fest in Austin, I caught up with Scott Simpson, director of Canadian developing studio Playbrains (and blog comment-reply record holder with a 100% reply rate!).

While he's answered most of the questions out there, Sideway still holds few more details yet to be revealed, including bite-sized, intra-level time trials to earn collectables and "birds that poop bombs." I recorded our conversation as we played through some of the game's early levels.





PlayStation Blog: Where did your character Nox come from?

Scott Simpson, Playbrains: You are Nox, a graffiti...

96w ago - Sony Online Entertainment Executive Director of Business Development Chris Sturr has shared launch dates today for PAYDAY: The Heist, Rochard, and Sideway: New York.

To quote: Sony Online Entertainment kicked off the first day with three of our newest PSN titles - Rochard, PAYDAY: The Heist and Sideway: New York. These latest games will engage you in graffiti adventures, environmental puzzlers and high intensity bank robberies, and will launch early this fall on the PlayStation Network via digital download.

Rochard puts you in the shoes of astro-miner John Rochard as he uses his wits and everyday mining tools to fend off space pirates. You must save his team of missing miners and solve the mystery behind the discovery of an ancient alien artifact.

The tools and crazy space gravity make for awesome puzzles, but it's Rochard's snarky sense of humor that really drew us to this game. Rochard will be available September 27th for download on PSN for $9.99.





PAYDAY: The Heist throws you straight into the action with high-stake heists, including bank robberies, prisoner extractions and armored car hijackings, you are forced to work as a team to control incredibly intense situations. This is a great game to play with a...

100w ago - Playbrains Studio Director Scott Simpson has unveiled the first Sideway: New York PSN video trailer today alongside some hands-on details from Comic-Con 2011.

To quote: Sideway is our upcoming action platformer based on the in-development cartoon series from the wonderfully twisted minds at Fuel Entertainment.

Oh, did the screenshots convey that we have hours of mindbending levels full of danger and challenge that will make the paint run from your veins?

Or that we support drop-in, drop-out couch co-op so you can play with your friends or that the bosses in the game are unlike any you've come across in your gaming life before?

Did the shots at least convey the basic conceit of the game: that you painted over the wrong dude's tag, and that you, in fact, are now a moving 2D painting in a 3D world?





Regardless, if you're interested in seeing what all of the above is really like, we're just putting the finishing touches on a demo for Comic-Con this week in San Diego. Oh yes, my friends, that's right--when you come by Sony Online Entertainment at the Con (Booth #4436), not only can you check out the awesomeness that is Sideway, but you can also...