Competitive racing returns to Gran Turismo soon as the 2022 Gran Turismo World Series gets going on Friday, May 27 and Saturday May 28 – the first rounds of the Online Season 1. Any player who has a copy of Gran Turismo 7 for PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5 can enter the series by heading to Sport Mode* in the game. Once there, sign up for the Nations Cup, where you compete for individual glory on behalf of your home country, and/or the Manufacturers Cup, in which you enter a virtual contract to compete on behalf of your favorite car maker.

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We’re really excited that after two years where all the action took place with people playing online from home, the Gran Turismo World Series (formerly the FIA Gran Turismo Championships) will feature some live events in 2022 where the best players from all over the world gather to face each other down on stage in front of the cameras.

The best of the racers from the first online season will be invited to compete in a three-day World Series Showdown in July against the cream of the 2021 championship at the spectacular Red Bull Hangar 7 in Salzburg Austria.

The World Series then continues online with Season 2, with the fastest racers invited to challenge the established stars at the World Finals. After a two-year hiatus, the finals return to the prestigious Sporting Monte Carlo, which hosted the 2018 and 2019 World Finals events.

In addition to the two in-person live events, fans can watch the top racers go head-to-head in a series of six streams  that will feature the top racers from the Nations Cup and Manufacturer Cup. 

Italian Valerio Gallo (21) will be looking to defend his 2021 Nations Cup title while two-time Manufacturers Cup champions Toyota are the team to beat in that series. A new team will be hunting them down as luxury car maker Genesis joins the Gran Turismo World Series as an official partner – thus guaranteeing Team Genesis a spot in the Manufacturer Cup flagship events.

Genesis is joined as a new partner by Italian brake company Brembo. Both brands will add to the contributions of long-term partners Michelin, Toyota, Mazda, Alpha and BBS who have helped to enrich both the game and the championships.

The Gran Turismo World Series will be great to watch, but also provides a competitive platform for anyone that wants to try online racing. You’ll be matched in races with people of a similar level so you can race for fun. But if you are quick and determined enough, you can make it to the top level and joi

Hello! It’s been an absolute joy for us to see our No Man’s Sky PlayStation community embrace their inner space pirate and prove their worthiness in space-combat as they took on The Blight as part of last month’s Outlaws update and expedition. Today we’re pleased to unveil our 7th expedition – Leviathan. And this one’s a little different

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Survival is front and centre for Expedition 7 as Travellers are challenged with escaping from a mysterious time-loop curse. Not even Nada and Polo know the cause of this temporal abnormality, but all the clues indicate a link to a great space creature, The Leviathan.

Unlike previous expeditions, and in a roguelike style, death never seems that far away. With each death some individual progress is reset, but each attempt counts towards Specialist Polo’s research into the time-loop and brings liberation ever closer. 

Moreover every incarnation presents another opportunity to contribute to Polo’s efforts with a procedurally-generated loadout, the quality of which increases as the community effort builds.

Will the collective might of the No Man’s Sky Travellers succeed in helping Polo restore the space-time balance, lifting the curse and restoring peace with the Leviathan? 

We like to think that No Man’s Sky expeditions are characteristically generous in their rewards and the Leviathan expedition is no exception. The Whalestalker Cloak, a mini Organic Frigate for your base and a Temporal Starship Trail to name but a few other trinkets you may pick up along the way. And the ultimate reward for your efforts? An awe-inspiring organic frigate to add to your frigate fleet.

We’ve really enjoyed putting this expedition together and are excited at the prospect of thousands of PlayStation Travellers working as an inter-galactic team to free themselves from the continuum… even if they do have to die a bunch of times to achieve it!

The Leviathan Expedition begins today and will run for approximately six weeks. Our journey continues.

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Hi everyone! First Contact Entertainment here, and we’re proud to announce that Firewall Zero Hour Operation: X, our final planned season of Firewall Zero Hour*, is live today.

Just because no additional seasons are currently in the works doesn’t mean the end is near: you’ll still be able to enjoy the PlayStation VR**-exclusive tactical team-based multiplayer fun of Firewall Zero Hour beyond the season’s wrap.

Now let’s take a look at some of the awesome content coming to you in Firewall Zero Hour Operation: X.

A fresh look at some fan favorites

This time around we handpicked some of our most-used items and switched up the color schemes to offer some fun new ways to customize your loadout. There are gold and chrome grips, blue and yellow insta-smokes, and a number of new variations on fan favorite facepaints. Our personal favorite addition this season is the new Unicorn-themed crossbow.

Grab hold of the Legendary Grim Reaper

For Operation: X we decided to upgrade the Reaper with some very tasteful gold accents that you’re going to love. This will be available to purchase (for 250,000 Crypto) for Operation X: Op Pass*** holders who complete all Free, Premium and Bonus Missions in Operation: X (a total of 24 Missions).

Another chance to earn classic Legendary Weapons

In honor of our tenth and final planned season, we’re bringing back legendary weapons from the first six seasons of Firewall Zero Hour. If you weren’t able to earn these the first time around, now’s your chance to grab Okoro’s Volkov, Jag’s Stalker, Meiko’s ZS, Saul’s CQB, Luna’s HZU, and Shadow’s Manta Ray. They will also remain available after the season ends, so you’ll have plenty of time to stack up the 250,000 crypto needed to purchase each weapon.

Reminder: Op Pass & Hack Key Bundles

The Operation: X Op Pass*** allows players access to 16 additional Mission cosmetic Rewards, plus the ability to unlock the Legendary Weapon Skin, the Gold Reaper after completion of all 24 Missions this season. Hack Keys can be used to instantly complete any Operational Mission and receive its cosmetic Reward — a great option for players who don’t have as much time to play as they would like. If you have any Hack Keys left over from last season (Operation: Rogue Tide), you can use them on Missions this season (Operation: X). As a reminder, since this is our final planned season, it is important to use your hack keys before it concludes.

• Firewall Zero Hour – Operation: X Op Pass + 5 Hack Keys ($7.99 USD / €7.99)
• Firewall Zero Hour – Operation: X Op Pass + 1 Hack Keys ($3.99 USD / €3.99)
• Firewall Zero Hour – 5 Hack Keys Pack ($4.99 USD / €4.99)

We can’t believe it’s almost been four years since the launch of Firewall Zero Hour, and we owe everything to you

Today marks the beginning of Season of the Haunted, a new chapter in the ongoing story of Destiny 2. New players and veteran Guardians alike are heeding the call as a returning threat has suddenly emerged in our galaxy. It is in this new Season that we find references to tragic conspiracies, relatable familial strife, and the unwavering desire—no, the need—to party like it’s the end of the universe. 

These references are all chapters in a story that began long before our Guardians and will hopefully survive long after their Light fades away. As we discover characters, locations, and items, new parts of that story click into place like space-magic puzzle pieces. And wouldn’t you know, there’s someone at Bungie dedicated to solving puzzles. 

We sat down to discuss some of the elements present in Season of the Haunted, where this tale began, and how the rift that formed long ago between an iconic emperor and his daughter brought the ghosts of the past to humanity’s doorstep. 

Without further ado, I present Bungie’s Destiny historian, Ashley Flanagan. 

Legendary Lore: An Emperor Adrift 

Richard Barrick: Thank you so much for spending this time with us today. Let’s start off with who you are and how you got here. 

Ashley Flanagan: My name’s Ash. I’m Bungie’s Destiny historian. This is not the first time I’ve been a historian of sorts, although not always for video games. I have a masters in Roman history and I used to teach that as an adjunct professor for a couple years—which is super relevant to the Cabal stuff we’re going to talk about today. I got into games about ten years ago when some friends of mine started working on an indie video game and asked me if I wanted to do some writing for it. 

Having a background in real-world history feels relevant to that because I’m pretty good at sifting through information and identifying what’s a reliable source. An unusual thing about Destiny is that a lot of our lore is filtered through characters who can be unreliable narrators—I mean, are you going to take what Savathûn says at face value? 

Well, it sounds like you’re the perfect person to talk to about Season of the Haunted—there are two elements to the Season that become much cooler when you know more about them, Calus and his massive planet-devouring ship, the Leviathan. Let’s start with Calus; who is he? 

Calus is the former emperor of the Cabal. Most of the Cabal players run into are in the military, so it’s easy to think of all of Cabal culture as being super militaristic. But Calus is different in that he’s a bit of a hedonist. He thinks that the military is a means to an end, and that end is having a good time all the time. Everyone else can have a good time too (as long as they don’t get in his way). Because of this, by most accounts Calus was a pretty popular emperor.

But this also led to him making enemies in the military. His reign came to an end when Caiatl (his daughter) and a bunch of his closest confidants conspired to depose him in an event known as the Midnight Coup. 

To hear Calus tell it, their one big mistake was that he was too popular to kill. So, the solution they came up with was to put him on a ship, disable the navigation system, and send it into the depths of space.

So, Calus was exiled and drifted through the stars on the Leviathan until one day when he looked out into the void and had a profound experience w

We’re pleased to announce today that the Days of Play sale commences on May 25, lasting until June 8*, with fantastic deals on select PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games at PlayStation Store, as well as other select products at retail. Offerings will vary by region and retailer, so be sure to check out the official Days of Play site, which will be updated to showcase your local deals when the sale begins.  

Let’s take a closer look at the Days of Play discounts you can enjoy over the coming weeks: 

PlayStation Gear Store

PlayStation Gear Store is celebrating Days of Play with 20% off select merchandise for the duration of the promotion. But that’s not all – there are three days of addition

With Hogwarts Legacy, we wanted to immerse you in the wizarding world like never before. Wand in hand, nothing is more important at Avalanche Software than making sure players feel like they are living in this world. PlayStation 5 allows us to take that immersion further as you build a legacy of your own.

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Connect With Your Wand

A witch or wizard should never be without their wand, and the PlayStation 5’s DualSense wireless controller becomes an extension of your wand in Hogwarts Legacy. With so many spells at your disposal, the adaptive triggers allow for more flexibility in combat. You’ll feel the magical resistance at your fingertips through every spell, whether firing off a basic cast or summoning the strength for a more powerful charm.  Spells will feel unique when you cast them, thanks to haptic feedback providing a direct connection between the DualSense controller and your wand. We’ve specifically isolated these effects to the right side of the controller to let the DualSense become an extension of the wand you hold in the game. And when you deflect a spell with Protego, you’ll feel the sizzling of the magic being reflected and absorbed by the Shield Charm.

Adaptive triggers and haptic feedback aren’t just limited to spellcasting and wand work, however. The DualSense controller lets you feel a variety of events throughout the world, whether it’s crushing ingredients with a mortar and pestle in Potions class, feeling the screech of a Mandrake seedling, or flying through the skies on a broom or a hippogriff. The DualSense is your connection to the magic on PS5.

We’ve also tapped into the DualSense controller’s light to give you a unique bit of personalization. When not flashing along with spells being cast or damage bein

The all-new PlayStation Plus begins its launch rollout today starting in Asia, and we couldn’t be more excited to offer this service as a way to get even more great games into the hands of players.

Let’s dive in.

What is the new PlayStation Plus all about?

We’ve brought together PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now in an all-new PlayStation Plus membership service that provides more choice and value to customers across three membership plans globally: Essential, Extra, and Premium (Deluxe in non-streaming markets). Our focus is on providing a curated and diverse game portfolio, with hundreds of high-quality titles to choose from when you subscribe to Extra or Premium (Deluxe). 

Where is the new PlayStation Plus rolling out, and when?

The new PlayStation Plus will launch in most countries where PlayStation Network is available. Here is the launch schedule (in local times):

• Asia (excluding Japan), launches starting today
• Japan, targeting June 2, 2022
• North and South America, targeting June 13, 2022
• Australia, New Zealand and Europe, targeting June 23, 2022 

What are key benefits for each plan?

Check out the chart below for a quick look at the key benefits.  

Which markets will have the cloud streaming option via PlayStation Plus Premium?

The following markets will launch with PlayStation Plus Premium:

• Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States.

What is the price for each benefit plan?

Pricing will vary by markets. Please visit our website for more information on local pricing.

It’s hard to believe that it was almost 12 years ago when we first introduced PlayStation Plus to the world, with Wipeout HD as one of the first games given to PlayStation Plus members. The PlayStation Plus product evolved through the years with more than 1,000 games offered to members globally.  We regularly improved upon our offerings to provide a compelling package to the 47 million members who are part of the service today. And just eight years ago we launched PlayStation Now as an open beta and have since seen it mature to a full-fledged service enjoyed by more than three million users in select markets. 

Starting today, we take our services one step further. I’m pleased to join our PlayStation community in Asia to welcome the new three-tier benefit offering from PlayStation Plus. The rollout begins today in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, and will be followed by Japan next week. North and South America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand markets are set to launch next month.

This is an exciting time for us as we begin to bring our tremendous game catalog* to PlayStation gamers globally. Putting high-caliber games in the service is our priority, and we are pleased to launch with some of the most celebrated titles, including Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, NBA 2K22, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Returnal for Extra and Premium/Deluxe members. We’ll also have beloved classics like Ape Escape, Super Stardust Portable, Syphon Filter, and Tekken2, and much more – these iconic games will look fantastic when you play them on PS5 and PS4. Our game catalog will refresh over time with more exciting titles, and I can’t wait for everyone to experience this. 

It has been an incredible journey to get to where we are today, and I’m truly proud of the many teams across SIE who worked tirelessly to transform our service offerings to add value and flexibility for our customers. Collectively, our teams have kept you, the gamer, front and center in the decisions we made to create this compelling game subscription.   

To the PlayStation community, thank you for being on this journey with us and celebrating this new era of network game subscription services. Cheers. 

For more on the All-New PlayStation Plus

All-New PlayStation Plus: Your guide to benefits and features

PlayStation Plus Games List (May 16 Announcement)

All-new PlayStation Plus launches in June (March 29 Announcement)

*Availability of Game Catalog varies over time and plan. See https://www.playstation.com/Plus for details and updates on PS Plus offerings. PlayStation Plus is an ongoing subscription subject to a recurring subscription fee taken automatically (at the then-current PS Store price) at the frequency you choose at purchase until cancellation. Terms apply: play.st/psplus-usageterms

We’re back with more inside info on Steelrising, coming to PS5 on September 8. Last time, we talked about our quest to develop an action-oriented RPG. This time we’ll be looking at the origins of our protagonist. In Steelrising, you play as Aegis, a unique automaton that will have to face an army of machines created for King Louis XVI, the Clockwork King.

All about Aegis

Let’s kick things off with some top-level stats:

• Status: Automaton
• Date of Creation: 1789. Precise date unknown
• Height: 175cm
• Weapons Types: 9
• Creator: Eugène de Vaucansson
• Previous occupation: Dancer for the court
• Current occupation: Fighter & last hope of the revolution

Even before we decided that Steelrising would take place in the 18th century, we had already envisioned an automaton protagonist. Indeed, the possibilities offered by having a machine, capable of rebuilding itself at will or improving its mechanics as it progresses, seemed to fit well for an action-oriented “soulslike” game, where death is an integral part of the learning curve.

Originally, our automaton was called Ada, in double reference not only to the idea of creation, Ada being our Adam, but also in reference to Ada Lovelace, the first programmer in history. Over time and as our universe developed and became anchored in the French Revolution, Ada became Aegis, this time in reference to the aegis, the shield that Athena wields to protect Zeus.

Creating her look

Meanwhile, the art team was thinking about what this machine would look like. There were many influences, but two in particular stood out: “La petite géante” (the little giant) from “Les Machines de l’île (an installation in Nantes) and “La Joueuse de tympanon” (the dulcimer player), the latter also happening to be a product of the 18th century.

On the left, La petite géante and on the right, the dulcimer player, two sources of inspiration that helped Aegis to come to life.

Beyond the mechanical aspect, which reflects the ability to upgrade and rebuild, we also wanted to infuse the character with grace for gameplay reasons: we wanted to incorporate fast-paced, aerial gameplay elements, and verticality. Thus, it was clear to us that Aegis had to be an agile and elegant character.

Aegis deploying her Armored Fans’ blades. Inspired by the fans so beloved by aristocracy, they deliver lightning-fast barrages of cutting attacks.

By association, we thought about music boxes and their little mechanical ballerinas. As well as fitting the story of the character – who was originally an automaton dancer – we found this reference interesting as it added a sense of apparent vulnerability and graceful delicacy in keeping with our vision of the character, creating a contrast that was all the more striking when she sprang her weapons from her body, the petite ballerina becoming a graceful machine of death.

Email us at PSPodcast@sony.com!

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Howdy! This week the team chats unpacks their feelings around indie game Unpacking, and continue to journey through Elden Ring.

Stuff We Talked About

• Snowrunner
• Kao the Kangaroo
• Slay the Spire
• Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
• God of War Ragnarök
• Slay the Spire
• Returnal
• Unpacking
• Elden Ring

The Cast

Sid Shuman – Senior Director of Content Communications, SIE

Tim Turi –  Manager, Content Communications, SIE

Brett Elston – Manager, Content Communications, SIE

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