Recently, we notified players that PlayStation Store for PS3 and PS Vita devices was planned to end this summer. 

Upon further reflection, however, it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here. So today I’m happy to say that we will be keeping the PlayStation Store operational for PS3 and PS Vita devices. PSP commerce functionality will retire on July 2, 2021 as planned. 

When we initially came to the decision to end purchasing support for PS3 and PS Vita, it was born out of a number of factors, including commerce support challenges for older devices and the ability for us to focus more of our resources on newer devices where a majority of our gamers are playing on. We see now that many of you are incredibly passionate about being able to continue purchasing classic games on PS3 and PS Vita for the foreseeable future, so I’m glad we were able to find a solution to continue operations.

I’m glad that we can keep this piece of our history alive for gamers to enjoy, while we continue to create cutting-edge new game worlds for PS4, PS5, and the next generation of VR.

Thank you for sharing your feedback with us – we’re always listening and appreciate the support from our PlayStation community. 

Hello! I’m Balthazar Auxietre, the co-founder and creative director of Innerspace VR, the team behind Maskmaker, a spell-binding PS VR adventure game launching tomorrow.

We’re excited to dive into the making of the game, and the adventure awaiting players in the mysterious  mask realm.

From studying cinema to exploring VR

While I was still in school, I had taken a more traditional course in cinema, but after graduating I found that I wasn’t very eager to join the cinema world, as I felt there were a lot of stories that had already been told through the medium. I remember as a child, I was intrigued by the potential of video games to tell different kinds of stories, so after making a few short movies, I moved onto using game engines and exploring that potential.

I had heard about this post-graduate art center, where artists were experimenting with new technology to move storytelling beyond the traditional language of cinema, so it was a perfect fit for me. I was able to get there and started working VR for the first time. Right away I spent almost all of the grant I had on buying this really primitive headset, which had a resolution of no more than 800 x 600 pixels and tried to do all sorts of things on it to make it work. It was how VR was in 2010!

… pretty underwhelming. But as I started to dig more into the potential of storytelling in VR, and it was very clear to me, even with the limitations of the technology at the time, that there were so many possibilities to tell these amazing stories through this medium. 

The DNA and philosophies of Innerspace VR

Our studio was founded in 2014 in Korea, during the very early stages of the rise of VR.  Early on, we started with a really small team that grew organically, project by project, and eventually moved back to Paris. 

These past few years we have worked on all kinds of VR projects, and have been recognized for our sense of innovation and our artistic approach. A Fisherman’s Tale was our first game, but besides games we still work on many other experiences such as VR art installations. 

Our DNA is both narrative and artistic, however we’ve always followed closely where gaming in VR was headed. Our goal hasn’t changed much over the years: we strive to explore the medium artistically, especially the storytelling potential through interaction, and try to make great VR, whatever that is! One of our mottos is that if VR cannot bring something significantly transformative to whatever it is that we are creating, whether it is a narrative or gaming experience, then we need to rethink our approach.

Learning from the past

Our first game was A Fisherman’s Tale, which was a real blessing for us as it is now recognized as one of the best VR narrative games. But of course, as

We’re only a few weeks away from the return of Capcom’s survival horror series.  Launching May 7 on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, Resident Evil Village thrusts RE 7’s everyman protagonist Ethan Winters into a new, horrifying scenario. Torn from a blissful family life by events beyond his control, the once settled husband and father now finds himself lost and alone in a remote region of Eastern Europe, driven by a single goal: find his kidnapped infant daughter. 

With the sweltering heat and horrors of the claustrophobic Baker family estate behind him, the snow-laden sprawl of an isolated village and its surrounding areas present new dangers and fresh mysteries for Ethan. Ever since its initial announcement last June, Capcom has slowly teased what those are. Four months ago, the publisher gave PS5 players a first-hand taste of one of the game’s locales and its ruthless inhabitants with the Maiden demo. 

Last week, three reveals. First was a new Showcase with fresh gameplay details (including confirmation that bonus game mode The Mercenaries was making a return). Within that was the announcement of a new demo for PS5 and PS4 players (with another on the way April 24). Lastly, we had the opportunity to watch a longer slice of PS5 gameplay taken from across the game’s opening hours. It shows how the franchise’s first-person strand’s mechanics are built upon in both new and series-familiar ways. How exploration is handled. A closer look at the new threats you’ll face. And a surprising hint at, of all things, interfamily politics between the region’s ruling powers. 

Here’s what we found out. 

Stay healthy, keep saving

Two franchise pillars get tweaked yet again. Your health bar will now fade in and back out at the bottom left of your screen come any change (for better or worse), and be viewable in the inventory menus (like Resident Evil 4, the weapons sub-menu features a briefcase-like, limited space overlay). Village favours ink over analogue saving: RE7’s tape recorders are out, the classic typewriter is back in. No need for ink ribbons though: save as often as you like. 

Paperback writer 

Ethan Winters must have wide pockets. Resident Evil Village collects maps and discovered files in a book kept upon your person. Also contained in its own tab is an evolving diary penned by Ethan (with sketches!), tracking his progress. Great as a story recap and quick guide for your next objective when you jump back into the game. 

Things of note: your map is split into three tabs. The first covers exteriors, the third for buildings. The middle tab is listed as ‘Underground’.