At its core, Rocket League has always been a humble game about rocket-powered cars playing soccer. But now the rules have changed with the introduction of the new Knockout Limited-Time Mode. For the first time, players will need to rethink their strats as they fight head to head in an eight-player free-for-all.               

In this destructive derby, novices and veterans alike will need to master the new attack, block, and grab mechanics to claim victory. Knockout will be part of a new in-game event called Knockout Bash, which runs from April 27 to May 10.

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Psyonix Programmer Sky Breen was part of the team that developed Knockout. We sat down together to talk about what players can expect, the process of introducing new mechanics, and how removing the ball is a big change for Rocket League.               

Knockout is the first game mode without goals or walls. What was it like designing a mode that “broke the rules” compared to other Rocket League Modes?           

Sky: Honestly we had just as much fun making the mode as playing it. When we started designing Knockout, we saw this as an opportunity to evolve the gameplay of Rocket League further. A way to tailor fit Knockout with new vehicle physics and learnable skills, to make the mode as fun as possible. At the same time, we want to give a new experience for players, one that hasn’t changed since our initial release seven years ago. Definitely breaking the rules for sure, but we are hoping players will really love all the changes and new additions we have made.

So, how did the team decide on attack, block, and grab as new mechanics? Were there other directions you took first before deciding on this new form of car vs. car combat?                       

Sky: Initially, the prototype was built around attacking other players. It was fun, but we wanted to add more depth and variety to the player’s move set. So we tried adding a new move set for blocking to protect th

Saints Row’s customization suite is guaranteed to delight and excite: there are virtually no limits to what you can do and there are no rules as to how you do it. You get the ultimate freedom to express yourself in Santo Ileso – what we call the Weird, Wild, American South West – let’s take a look at what this actually means.

We put player choice first in Saints Row; across the board we offer the best, most vibrant mix of customization features that make this by far the best customization toolset in a Saints Row game to date.

You can adapt almost anything in outlandish or aspirational fashion. From the end of the very first missions you will unlock the ability to update your boss character with clothing, emotes and even your weapon of choice with an almost endless number of options from one of the stores across the city.  As you progress through the game you will earn the cash needed to keep your look up to date.  Through the Criminal Ventures you and your fellow Saints take part in you can modify parts of the city itself, including the Saints HQ – it’s your time to take over Santo Ileso and make it your own; so go build your criminal empire in style.    

We’ve removed the boundaries of gender for players – you can put anything on without limits and rules. Our best in class tools let players choose what their definition is for cool. Serious or silly, we let players express themselves and generate looks that either resemble their own persona, another’s, or even something other-worldly.

You can craft your perfect boss and show off your own style with a copious choice of clothing. With each individual item being customizable – layered clothing is back, so you can add underwear, a t-shirt and then a jacket, and accessorize with sneakers, hats, gloves and even socks! Yes, this much loved feature is also back with a vengeance, and for everything you wear, you can change the color, surface properties, and exotic materials for the perfect look.

Going deeper, you can customize your hairstyle and color from the roots to the tips. For your skin, go beyond a myriad of colors and define the type, texture, and features like scars and muscles, veins, tattoos, prosthetics and piercings. There’s even a trucker tan. When it comes to your face you can make each side the same or different with the inclusion for the very first time of asymmetrical face customization. Add make-up, scars, bruises, tattoos, facial hair, wrinkles – it’s all there and we can’t wait to see what you

LEGO Builder’s Journey is now available on PS5 and PS4, we are very proud to bring even more playful game experiences to players. 

As a brand new feature in the game, you can unleash your creativity and build and share your own creations in Creative Mode. This is a much-requested feature where you can go and build your own models or scenes with a curated selection of LEGO bricks.

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There are several available themes and different options for build plates to start out with: Some have a bit of inspiration built in from the start like the lower half of a car, while some plates leave more room for you to be creative in your build out.

We have kept the controls and interface as simple as the rest of the game: When you open a brick bin, you get a curated selection of bricks to build with. Placing a brick automatically gives you another one in the same shape and color – which is great for building symmetrical things. If you open the bin again, you get a new selection of bricks. The paint bucket can be used to dye your bricks by literally pouring paint over them to change their color.

Once your creation is done, the photo mode lets you adjust the lighting and viewing angle before taking the perfect picture of your model and sharing it with friends.

The vision for Builder’s Journey was to create a different kind of LEGO game – one that puts the bricks at the center of the experience. The main part of the game is about building with bricks to complete small diorama-based puzzles that also tell a story about a child and a parent, and the importance of playing together.

The music, art, design, and animations all come together to bring a non-verbal, atmospheric experience of soothing cerebral mind exercises and creative solutions to the game’s challenges. Sometimes thinking out of the box, getting new ideas and

Deep Rock Galactic, a co-op game about dwarves in space mining minerals and fighting bugs, has been out on PS4 and PS5 for a couple of months now. And it has been amazing seeing so many new players join us in the caves of Hoxxes. Whether you picked up the game while it was available with PlayStation Plus, or you recently bought it, welcome!

The PlayStation release of DRG happened during our very first season in the game, and we will soon release our second season on May 5: Season 02 – Rival Escalation. This season includes four new Secondary weapons, and that gave us the opportunity to design them with the DualSense wireless controller in mind from the start. 

When we were working on the PlayStation version of DRG, we decided to use the DualSense controller features as much as possible to enhance the experience of the weapons in the game (see our previous blog post on How the DualSense controller enhances Deep Rock Galactic’s mining and combat). Below, you can read how we have used the DualSense controller features for each of the new weapons.

The ArmsKore Coil Gun

Haptic feedback helped bring home the feeling of power to each gun. Take the Coil Gun in this new Season: Although small and compact the gun packs a lot of power. And with haptic feedback we could really get the point across with increasingly stronger pulsing during the charge phase, communicating the unstable, high amounts of energy, which releases with a huge kick. 

The Nishanka Boltshark X-80

The Boltshark was the more subtle one of the bunch and benefited greatly from the finer details possible that the haptic feedback provides. Although it is quieter than the others, it gave us more room to emphasize the small details of the crossbow parts clicking, bolts being put in place and the string slapping against the barrel when firing.

The Shard Diffractor

The Shard Diffractor was the simplest of the bunch design-wise, shooting a persistent laser with so much power the player can barely stand on their feet. However, conveying that power over such a long time through rumble would be too much compared to other engineer secondaries. We decided to go with a softer rumble on the beam and put emphasis on the power of the impact. Because of t

The world of Horizon Forbidden West is grand in scale, but as you explore, you’ll uncover many smaller secrets buried throughout its landscapes. Some of the most unexpected discoveries are three mysterious relics referencing Midgard, the mythical realm featured in a certain Norse action-adventure game from Santa Monica Studios. 

At Guerrilla, we love to collaborate with and nod to our fellow PlayStation Studios. That’s why, hidden throughout the Forbidden West, these special War Totems pay homage to key characters. 

The world of Horizon Forbidden West is grand in scale, but as you explore, you’ll uncover many smaller secrets buried throughout its landscapes. Some of the most unexpected discoveries are three mysterious relics referencing Midgard, the mythical realm featured in a certain Norse action-adventure game from Santa Monica Studio. 

By finding all three of these carved wooden figures, you’ll unlock access to a unique cosmetic bonus for Aloy: the legendary Mark of War face paint worn by Kratos himself. 

Every one of these collectibles was placed in the world with careful consideration by our development team. While we’ll leave it to you to find their exact locations, we hope this peek behind the scenes will give you an idea of where to begin your search. 

We begin with an homage to Kratos’ iconic weapon, the Leviathan Axe. Off a beaten path, Aloy can find the fearsome battleaxe buried in a tree. Scanning it with her Focus reveals a trail to an abandoned cabin, mirroring Kratos’ home. Within, the small Totem of War bears Kratos’ likeness.  

The Totem of Youth is close to an iconic landmark. As you approach, you will discover it is defended fiercely by a machine that holds a likeness to the creature that watches over Helheim, a specific reference to Atreus. 

Finally, the Totem of Brotherhood is found in a Cauldron-like structure on an island, reminiscent of one of the locations of Brok and Sindri’s forge. We chose this location because the Huldra Brothers are a Norse equivalent to the Greek god Hephaestus (the namesake of Horizon Forbidden West’s machine-forging AI). 

“We wanted these to be standalone, hidden easter eggs, which were intentionally more difficult to fi

Last week we asked to rise as Tarnished and take on the dangerous realms of Elden Ring using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:  

JorgePSshare shares their helmeted character taking a break by a flame.

pannn03 shares a collection of masks and stone.

M_Joe_Hort shares a hulking building on the move.

RB_SKKN shares a serene portrait of Renna.

ClausSanAndreas shares a portrait of the knight Blaidd.

ZacheryyyEduard shares their Tarnished approaching a boss.

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week? 

THEME: Elden Ring – Bosses
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on April 20, 2022

Next week, take on Elden Ring’s most challenging foes. Share moments in the midst of boss battles big and small using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured. 

Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball during the modern era. A true trailblazer in many areas including sports, media, and the civil rights movement. 

Jackie stood for: class, the love of the game and of course, equality. He was a powerful force of positive change, that changed the landscape of sports and the world today. 

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As has been tradition each season since 2004, MLB and the teams will celebrate the anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s historic MLB debut as he broke baseball’s color barrier throughout the league on April 15, 1947. For the 75th anniversary we wanted to make this year’s celebration extra special. In partnership with the Jackie Robinson Foundation, Sony Interactive Entertainment, The Players Association and Major League Baseball. 

From April 15, 2022 through April 29 on US digital platform stores where MLB The Show is sold. You can purchase the Jackie Robinson Foundation Pack ($4.99 USD). PlayStation and San Diego Studio will donate 100% of the proceeds* from this pack after store platform fee deductions are applied to the Jackie Robinson Foundation. These donations will support the JRF/PlayStation-MLB The Show Scholars Program to help reduce the achievement gap in higher education. This is in addition to the $1 donation PlayStation and San Diego Studio will be making to the founda

During today’s High Isle Chapter Preview event, the development team behind The Elder Scrolls Online’s next big adventure had a chance to share more about Tales of Tribute, the new card game taking Tamriel’s taverns by storm. To get the inside scoop, we reached out to some of Tales of Tribute’s designers for a breakdown on this new system.  

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Why a card game? 

“The team is always exploring potential new features and quality of life improvements for ESO, and historically we’ve added a major new gameplay element with each annual Chapter release,” explains Rob Garrett, ESO’s Gameplay Lead. “For some time, we’ve had interest in exploring the idea of a tavern game. Something the inhabitants of Tamriel play for recreation and, much like Antiquities, could serve as a fun activity for adventurers looking to take a break from their usual escapades.”  

The result was the creation of an all-new card game system, fully integrated within ESO, that anybody who owns High Isle can pick up and play. 

Tactical deck-building with a twist 

Tales of Tribute is a two-player deck-building card game that can be played against NPCs and other adventurers you meet within ESO. Secure the win by collecting enough Victory Points or gaining the favor of all four Patrons at once. 

Patrons are a unique kind of mechanic in that there are four of them in play at any one time, and each Patron is associated with a specific t

It is said that good things come in threes, and today is no exception.  We at PlayStation are thrilled to spotlight our latest trio of vinyl soundtrack releases, brought to you by our friends at Milan Records: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Ghost of Tsushima: Music from Iki Island & Legends, and Returnal.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

The Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart soundtrack features the exuberant, BAFTA-nominated score by Mark Mothersbaugh and Wataru Hokoyama, plus the brilliantly performed, award-winning song, “Join Me at the Top,” from the latest entry in Insomniac Games’s critically acclaimed franchise.

For the vinyl design, we were lucky enough to land the amazing illustrator, Shan Jiang, who truly knocked it out of the park with his rotatable panoramic cover art.

As Shan describes, “The cover concept focuses on duality and traveling among parallel universes. I learned that the game’s core idea is finding who you truly are through understanding yourself. Rivet and Ratchet became better versions of themselves through the adventures they experienced together.  It is like Ratchet and Rivet are looking in the mirror, but in the mirror is another universe. So you can see the cover from Rivet’s point of view or Ratchet’s point of view, depending on how you want to hold the cover.”

The interior panels showcase the main characters and their diminutive counterparts in a rare, pensive moment, giving us an intimate portrait of the Rift Apart crew as they take a breather from the game’s non-stop action.

The album is available from Milan Records and a variety of retailers, each featuring exclusive, eye-popping disc color “variants.”

Ghost of Tsushima: Music from Iki Island & Legends

Following up their 2021 release of the BAFTA-nominated score for the original game, Milan Records delivers a second volume from Sucker Punch’s epic with Ghost of Tsushima: Music from Iki Island & Legends.

Featuring Ilan Eshkeri’s iconic Jin Sakai theme woven into beautiful new compositions by Chad Cannon and Bill Hemstapat, the album is wrapped in striking key art from the titular Director’s Cut expansion and multiplayer DLC.

The image of a lone Jin agains

Last month saw our first major No Man’s Sky update of 2022, the Sentinel update, and it’s been so exciting to see our PlayStation community powering up their combat mechs and joining the fight against these new threats and challenges in such large numbers. 

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Today we’re pleased to announce our next and 19th update! The Outlaws update launches today across PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation VR, featuring smuggling, improved space combat, your own recruitable squadron, a new expedition, and the introduction of the first new starship to No Man’s Sky since the Living Ship two years ago.

Pirates have taken over space stations all across the universe, using them as bases from which to conduct smuggling operations and attacks on neighboring planets and settlements. Players have a choice: join them as renegades and assist them in their nefarious activities, or take them on head-to-head in the newly rebalanced and dynamic space combat.

Fortunately, you are not alone in this fight. Players can now recruit their own squadron of pilots, who will warp in and join the fray as needed. Explore the galaxy to find your perfect wingmen, or upgrade your loyal crew from their humble beginnings into an elite unit.

At the heart of the update is a brand new starship, the sophisticated new sail-equipped Solar class. This highly-varied new ship comes with unique technology and is most commonly found in pirate-occupied systems. 

What’s more, keen ship hunters will be able to find their perfect version without losing any of their existing vessels, as the maximum number of ships has been increased from six to nine. All ships now also come with a specialist high-capacity cargo inven