PS4 6.51 Firmware Update Is Now Live, Still No Option To Change PSN Online IDs

Sony has released the latest firmware patch for PS4, update 6.51. The update doesn’t do all that much, despite being 463 MB.

In the full patch notes for update 6.51, Sony states that it, “improves system performance.” That’s it. Overall, update 6.50 did a lot more, implementing several new features in the PS4. Update 6.50 added the choice of 720p video when broadcasting with Niconico Live, and also added button assignment support for “enter” operations–allowing you to change the selection button from circle to X.

Notably lacking from update 6.51 is the option to change your PSN online ID, a patch that, last year, Sony promised is coming early 2019. You can already change your PSN online ID if you’re a part of PlayStation’s Preview Program, but the update hasn’t left beta and gone public. Sony has announced that when the patch does go live, the first name change will be for free. However, subsequent changes will cost $5 USD / €5 / £4 for PlayStation Plus members, and twice as much for everyone else.

Sony has admitted that implementing PSN online ID changes isn’t a smooth process, so there could still be plenty of bugs the company is trying to iron out. Apparently, the feature won’t be compatible with every game released prior to April 1, 2018. Not all PS4, PS3, and PS Vita games are guaranteed to support the feature either, so users may see several issues or errors in relation to their PSN online ID for certain games. Additionally, one of the Preview Program testers reported a bug that changing your PSN online ID might cause a loss in DLC purchases and game save data.

However, if you run into issues after changing your ID, PlayStation has said it will provide an option for players to revert back to their old one for free.

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PAX East 2019: Katana Zero Is A Stylish, Surprising Action Thriller

Katana Zero made a memorable entrance with its release date trailer in the spring Nindies showcase, as a stylish and brutal action game coming just around the corner. Though it is a tense combat game where every moment could mean certain death, it was the moments outside the combat that proved the most surprising in a hands-on at PAX East 2019.

The bulk of the game is the moment-to-moment combat we saw detailed in the reveal trailer (above), in which both you and your enemies are so deadly that a single hit means death. Stages are segmented into unique combat scenarios, with a rewind mechanic that starts you over. Within the fiction of the game, these various combat runs are your assassin’s sense of precognition, carefully planning which murder-chain will work. The subsequent security camera footage that shows your successful completion is capturing what actually happened.

It’s a gameplay loop familiar to fans of games like Hotline Miami or Ape Out, where each unsuccessful run is both a failure and a learning experience to build your knowledge base for a better one. The combat feels breathlessly fast, but I never found the deaths unfair. The action constantly compels one more try, a little faster, and with a little more insight.

You have a variety of tools at your disposal as well. The demo featured the standard swordplay as its main tool, as well as the ability to throw objects across the room, slam doors against enemies, and even cleverly use traps like lasers against enemies. One stage set in a dance club allowed blending in to the crowd to avoid guards. Enemies came in several varieties as well, from brawlers to fellow katana-wielders to security personnel with guns. In each case, a single touch means death.

Outside of combat, though, the game pleasantly surprised with story vignettes. The Dragon may be a deadly assassin, but he lives in a crappy apartment with noisy neighbors. He regularly speaks with his employer (and de facto therapist) about recurring nightmares in order to receive drug treatments. These story segments were a standout, because they added a darkly humor flavor and enriched the world.

What made these dialogue sequences even more refreshing was a time-based branching dialogue system. Allowing someone to finish speaking will often open dialogue options, which can help steer the story. Skipping dialogue is always an option, but it will mean you interrupt another character, which has its own consequences.

For example, to test the system I interrupted a receptionist constantly until she got angry. After completing my assassination contract, she was there waiting for me with a SWAT officer. I hadn’t smooth-talked my way through the interaction, and so when gunshots broke out in the stage, I had immediately become a prime suspect. After dispatching the officer, my employer told me the receptionist had been killed for my lack of discretion.

Game creator Justin Stander says the game is full of these branching dialogue options, and when you consider that merely interrupting a speaker to speed a scene along counts as a choice, the possibilities become shockingly complex. I was able to make choices that seemed to have impact when talking about the nightmares, which impacted the perception of the next one. Stander said that at one point another character can borrow your sword, leaving you to make do with found objects for part of the next stage.

Those narrative hooks are likely to keep me coming back and exploring different avenues, even as I struggle my way through its challenging combat. Sharply difficult games with a retro aesthetic aren’t usually known for their narrative punch, but this could be one to break the mold. It’s coming to PC and Switch on April 18.

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The Elder Scrolls: Blades Is Now Live For Some People

Bethesda has announced that The Elder Scrolls: Blades is now available for players who registered for early access prior to March 25. Players are being given access in waves, though, so you might have to wait a little bit longer to play the whole game, even if you pre-ordered the game and signed up early. Also, you have to pre-register on Bethesda’s website, which is a separate process from pre-ordering the game.

“The first wave of The Elder Scrolls: Blades early access went smoothly, so we invited the next wave,” Bethesda wrote in a tweet. “If you registered after [March 25] don’t worry, we’re sending invites daily.” In a follow-up tweet, Bethesda revealed there is a “delay in account authentication,” but the company is working to fix the problem “as soon as possible.”

Blades is a mobile installment in The Elder Scrolls series, which Bethesda describes as a “pure Elder Scrolls game” with “console-quality graphics.” The major difference between Blades and previous The Elder Scrolls games is that Blades doesn’t have an open world. Instead, it’s a series of interconnected environments–some of which are still “very large,” according to Bethesda.

“We could do it,” Bethesda director and executive producer Todd Howard said, when asked about possibly implementing an open-world into Blades. “We’ll see how people interact with it. Because it’s mobile, we know people may play… We need you to get something meaningful done in 10 or 15 minutes. Do you know what I mean? Even though you could sit down and play it for as many hours as you want.”

The Elder Scrolls: Blades was originally scheduled to release on Android and iOS devices in Fall 2018, but it was delayed. The game is free to download. Bethesda has said there are plans to bring the game to PC and consoles in the future, but there is no planned release window for those versions.

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STALKER 2 Is Still Alive: Update Brings New Art, Music, And Twitter Account

There isn’t much to say about STALKER 2 at this point, to be honest. But the fact that the game’s official website has been updated with new key art and music is enough for fans, like myself, to get hyped up. In addition, the project launched its own Twitter account which it says will be used to share news and “interesting content” for the franchise. As for the music that plays on the site, it’s a three minute(ish) creepy, foreboding ambient track that fits the series’ often terrifying post-apocalyptic atmosphere.

STALKER 2 was revealed to be in the works when the site went live back in May of last year–at the time, it was simply the game’s title painted onto a concrete background with the number “2021” clearly implying that the game won’t be around until then. The team behind the original entries, GSC Game World, is heading up STALKER 2 as the company’s own site says it is currently in development.

GSC Game World has been through a lot since releasing the original STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl and the two follow-ups Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat. Plans for a full sequel began in 2010 with the hopes of hitting a 2012 release, but was eventually cancelled. The studio remained relatively quiet, but released the strategy game Cossacks 3 in 2016.

For those unfamiliar with STALKER, it’s a first-person shooter and survival horror series loosely based on the Russian novel Roadside Picnic and movie Stalker (1979). It’s set in an alternate reality where another nuclear disaster hit the Russian nuclear zone of Chernobyl. The story takes supernatural turns as you uncover the mysteries of the Nuclear Exclusion Zone alongside other stalkers, who are rogue hunters and scavengers in “The Zone.” STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl was one of the best games of its time despite having a lot of technical bugs; you can read more about in our list of great games from 2007.

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