The PlayStation Experience Is Coming And You're Invited!!!

Sony has today announced that it will be holding its first ever PlayStation Experience. The community event is due to take place in Las Vegas between the 6th and 7th of December 2014 and will be open to anyone aged eighteen or over.

Attendees will get the chance to sit in on many in-depth panels, meet some of the industry’s best developers, get an exclusive first look at what’s coming next in 2015, and they will also have the opportunity to purchase rare collectibles directly from their favourite game studios,

 Ticket prices are still being finalised, but are expected to cost around $50 ( approximately £31) for a one-day pass, or $90 (approximately £56) for the two-day pass.

It certainly sounds like an amazing time for those gamers who are lucky enough to go! Nevertheless, for those gamers who won't be able to attend the event in person, the PlayStation blog will have live coverage of the event from start to finish, including breaking news and  live video streams through multiple distribution channels.

More news about the event, including the programming schedule, Streaming times and finalised ticket prices is expected within the next two weeks, so remember to check in with Mini Gamers for more news about this event as it occurs.

Game Of The Week: The Swapper [PS Vita]

The Swapper is a 2D side-scrolling sci-fi platform game, which was originally developed for PC, Linux and Mac operating systems, but which has been recently adapted for the PS Vita and PS3 by Curve Studios.

The game essentially explores the issue of human cloning. Players take on the role of a person stranded on a damaged space station from which they are desperately trying to escape. Players must explore the station and find orbs that are used to activate certain doors, allowing them to progress further into the game.

Players will be given a handheld cloning device early in the game. This eponymous device is called 'The Swapper', which has two main functions: firstly, using the device will allow the player  to create up to four simultaneous clones of the original playable character, and secondly, the device gives players the ability to swap control to any of these clones as long as they are within the original character's direct field of vision.

Clones will mirror the original character's movements exactly throughout the game unless they are blocked by the various coloured lights that can be found throughout the environment. Each coloured light has a different affect on the clones:

Blue Light - Prevents players from creating any new clones, but clones who were created before the blue light area can walk through the blue areas without any difficulty.

Red Light - This prevents clones from being able to jump, which can be especially tricky in certain sections of the game.

Purple Light - This light causes a combination of the red and blue light effects upon the clones. Thus, new clones cannot be created whilst in a purple area, and already created clones will be unable to jump whilst in the area of purple light as well. Successfully navigating the coloured lights and other environmental obstacles such as gravitational reversal is a player's primary concern within the game and it is not an easy task to achieve. 

As well as the lights, there are a number of puzzles which will have to be solved. Each puzzle is difficult enough to make players think, but not so brain-taxing that the game feels boring or impossible to complete.

The game does allow players to go back and forth between already explored areas of the game. This is useful as it does allow players the chance to solve all of the game's puzzles in whichever order they choose to do so, which means that they can apply the knowledge gained in latter portions of the game to any of the earlier puzzles that they have not yet completed.

In conclusion, the game has a visually atmospheric graphic style and a simple but pseudo-philosophical narrative, which will keep most players adequately entertained. The only disappointing factor about the game is that it does seem a little too short, but on the other hand, the game never seems to lag or get boring either.

The game is available to download now from the PS Store. If you are looking for a nice new sci-fi game that will not leave you badly out of pocket, then this may just be the game for you. Overall Mini Gamers rating: 8/10.

England Lose World Cup Yet Again... The PlayStation World Cup, that is!

England faced another crushing defeat last night at the 2014 World Cup. Not the actual World Cup, of course, but a virtual one. The FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) saw Englishman, David Bytheway take on eighteen year old, August Rosenmeier, from Denmark.

The two finalists reportedly played a very good game, with Blytheway choosing to play as Germany and Rosenmeier playing as the host nation of Brazil, but utimately, Blytheway was unable to get ahead in the tense PlayStation battle, which finally saw Rosenmeier beat his English rival 3-1.

Now in its tenth year, this was the first time the FIWC Grand Final took place at the same time and in the same country as the FIFA World Cup. Unlike the real World Cup, however, the FIWC started with almost two million entrants who were gradually whittled down to just twenty competitors that were then invitedto Rio where they battled it out in several rounds of FIFA 14. Footballers such as Dwight Yorke and Ronaldo were also present to offer encouragement to the competitors.

This was the third Grand Final for August Rosenmeier, who, as well as winning the FIWC trophy, will receive $20,000 (approximately £10,500), and will even get to meet some of the real football teams taking part in this year's World Cup competition.

The 18 year-old expressed his utter delight at winning the Grand Final: "I can’t describe how it feels to be champion. Denmark isn’t here at the World Cup but we showed them we can play football on the virtual pitch. It was amazing to receive the trophy from Ronaldo.” [Sourced from:  http://www.fifa.com/interactiveworldcup/news/newsid=2398364/]

The online tournament takes place on the PlayStation Network and can be accessed through the latest version of FIFA 14 on the PS3. For more information on the FIWC, go to: www.fifa.com/fiwc, www.twitter.com/fiwc, or www.facebook.com/fiwc

Sparkle 2 Coming Soon To PS3 and PS Vita...

Yes, the award-winning match-3 game is back with new challenges, new game modes and over ninety different levels in the aptly titled Sparkle 2, which will be available for download from the PS Store soon.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Sparkle series, Sparkle 2 is an addictive indie game where players must score points by matching rows of orbs of the same colour. The gameplay is simple: Tap where you want to shoot an Orb. Match any three Orbs of the same colour to clear them and earn points. Make several matches in a row to earn special power-ups. Try to prevent your orbs from falling into the abyss as you search for amulets that will give you the ability to change the game rules and help you score even bigger matches.

Sparkle 2 is expected to take full advantage of the Vita's touchscreen capabilities and will feature HD graphics, which its predecessor sadly lacked. Little is known about the actual gameplay at present, but this interesting teaser trailer looks very promising:

(Having trouble viewing this trailer? CLICK HERE)

Sparkle 2 will be heading to the PS Vita and PS3 on the 21st of May 2014, with a PS4 version also debuting later in the year. If you like match-3 games but are still unsure whether the game will appeal to you, a free trial version will be available to download from the PS Store within the next few days. Watch this space!