September 2014 brings free arcade action to PlayStation Plus

By Will Fulton August 27, 2014

Sony has shared the latest batch of free games that PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to download for their PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita in September.

Velocity 2X (PS4, PS Vita): This sequel to the arcade space shooter Velocity adds puzzle platforming levels for when you get off your ship that still utilize the teleportation mechanic to tie this fast-paced and challenging game together.

Sportsfriends (PS4, PS3): Invite your friends over for this compilation of local multiplayer games like retro-style fighting game BaraBariBall or the physical party game Johann Sebastian Joust. All of the games utilize the DualShock 4 controller and Johann Sebastian Joust is particularly well-suited for the PlayStation Move controller.

PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale (PS3, PS Vita): It’s Super Smash Bros., but with PlayStation characters instead of Nintendo staples. You can finally decide once and for all who would win in a fight between Kratos and Parappa the Rapper.

Hoard (PS3): If you’re sick of being a noble hero, slaying monsters and rescuing princesses, Hoard turns that on its head and casts you as a sinister dragon to exploit the countryside and accrue treasure while fending off pesky knights and thieves. A variety of modes lets you play solo, co-operatively, or competitively with your fellow dragons in this fun and innovative arcade game.

Joe Danger (PS Vita): Before throwing the entire gaming public into a tizzy over their upcoming open world space game No Man’s Sky, Hello Games made a name for itself with this charming, colorful motorcycle arcade series. Guide the titular stunt riding hero through levels chock-full of secrets with conventional or touch controls (as developed for recent iOS ports), and make your own levels with the editor mode.

TxK (PS Vita): Throw on your Members Only jacket for this re-envisioning of the ’80s classic arcade shooter Tempest. A pulse-pounding soundtrack drives your pursuit of ever-higher scores in this spiritual successor to the seminal tube shooter.

All of the above games will be free starting September 1 for PlayStation Plus subscribers on Sony’s various platforms.

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Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

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Get these 6 PlayStation VR2 launch games to showcase its features

A side view of the PlayStation VR2, which sits on a wood table.

If you're planning on buying a PlayStation VR2 at launch, be prepared for an intimidating process as you decide which games to pick up first. Early adopters will have a lot of options to choose from, as Sony's latest headset will support over 40 games at launch. The bulk of those, though, are ports of preexisting VR games from the past few years. That makes it a little tricky to figure out which games actually showcase what the PSVR2 is capable of and which will feel like a dated experience that doesn't benefit from new tech.

To help guide you, we've spent time playing through a wide variety of launch titles, from classics like Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge all the way to Horizon Call of the Mountain. While there are plenty of games that we've enjoyed, including charmers like What the Bat? and Jurassic World Aftermath Collection, six games in particular act as great showcases for various PSVR2 features. Whether you're looking to test its power, Sense controllers, or audio options, you'll want to put these six games in your digital shopping cart.
Horizon Call of the Mountain

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Bringing VR’s best Star Wars game to PlayStation VR2 was a no-brainer, devs say

star wars tales from the galaxys edge psvr2 interview ilmxlab starwarstalesee screenshot c 3po and r2 d2

When ILMxLAB learned about the PlayStation VR2, Director Jose Perez III thought it was a "no-brainer" for the studio to bring the Oculus Quest game Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge to the new headset.
"We're always looking at how we can push the fidelity of the work that we're doing," Perez III tells Digital Trends in an interview. "PlayStation VR2 is ridiculously powerful; we got really excited about what we could bring to that. We started talking with our friends at Sony because we had a great relationship with them for Vader Immortal, and it was really a no-brainer. Then, you put the headset on, you start feeling the haptics, and you start seeing what you can do with the visual fidelity and lighting, and it's like, 'Oh, this is awesome!'"
Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge - Enhanced Edition | Official Trailer | PS VR2
PlayStation VR2's launch and its first wave of games are nearly upon us, and Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge Enhanced Edition is one of those titles. This is a make-or-break time for VR, which is still struggling to move into the mainstream but could become more popular if Sony's headset can offer a compelling and accessible virtual reality experience. Ahead of its release, Digital Trends spoke to Director Jose Perez III and Producer Harvey Whitney from ILMxLAB to learn about the process of crafting one of these critical "no-brainer" launch games and PlayStation VR2 will ultimately stand when it comes to the future of VR gaming.
The power of PlayStation VR2
Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge was originally released for Meta Quest VR headsets in November 2020. It's set on the planet of Batuu, which people also explore at Dinsey parks, and follows a Droid Technician who gets caught in the middle of a grander fight against the First Order after crash-landing on the planet. At the time, it was meant with decent reviews and only got better as its story was completed and expanded with the Last Call DLC.
After getting the "Enhanced Edition" of the game for PlayStation VR2 greenlit, ILMxLAB actually had to go and make it. As the team was dealing with new hardware for the first time, producer Harvey Whitney thought it was good that the team's first project on PlayStation VR2 was an enhanced version of an existing game.
"Early on, knowing that we already had the content that was created for the original, that changes things quite a bit," Whitney tells Digital Trends. "We're not redeveloping the story and coming up with all of that. We just had that opportunity to work as a team and ask, 'What do we really push here, and where are the changes that we want to make, and what we can do to really take advantage of this hardware?'"

The VR space is full of different headsets with unique specs, with the much higher specs of the PS VR2 standing out. The PlayStation VR2 sports some impressive specs compared to its VR peers, displaying content in a 4000x2030 HDR format at a 90Hz or 120Hz frame rate. Plus, games have the PS5's power, spatial, and brand new Sense controllers to take advantage of, rather than the 2013 console and 2010 motion controls that limited the original PlayStation VR.
PlayStation VR2 supports Roomscale, Sitting, and Standing play styles, which added more complexity as Tales from the Galaxy's Edge supports all three. Thankfully, Perez III that bringing Tales from the Galaxy's Edge to PlayStation VR2 was relatively manageable because of how impressive the system's specs were.
"A lot of the development processes are similar [to other VR platforms]," Perez III says. "We're still working inside of Unreal, and we're doing a lot of those same processes. But we don't have to look at performance quite as much as we do on some of the other devices, so we're able to open up a lot of things or not be as concerned about certain things. That comes with better hardware."
Better hardware, better games
Looking at the biggest games of the PlayStation VR2 launch window lineup, the visuals of titles like Horizon Call of the Mountain and the VR modes of Resident Evil Village and Gran Turismo 7 are impressive. In our discussion, Whitney also made it quite clear that one of the real advantages of working on this remaster was not having to worry about strict limitations on the visuals or even the audio. "We got lucky in the sense that there's a lot more to PlayStation VR2 that we hadn't had previously," Whitney says. "We could really push the graphics and make it shine. But then there were also some other things that came into play. We totally redid the audio, it sounds amazing."