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Tag: Ratchet & Clank

  • A long-lost Ratchet and Clank mobile game has been found

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    After years of trying, a dedicated team has managed to download and archive a fully playable version of the long-lost canceled mobile game, Ratchet & Clank: Clone Home. The story of its search and recovery has been detailed in a new video by YouTuber The Golden Bolt, who helped kick off the search himself back in 2019.

    Ratchet & Clank: Clone Home has usually been attributed to Handheld Games, which developed a string of mobile titles in 2005 including Spider-Man 2: The Hero Returns and Ratchet & Clank: Going Mobile, the predecessor to Clone Home. Originally set to debut in 2006 for Java phones, it was quietly canceled just prior to release.

    It wasn’t forgotten, though. Rumors persisted that it was a fully playable game, helping elevate it to mythical status among fans. Then, The Golden Bolt heard from one of the original developers that the game was indeed finished and may have found its way to a handful of mobile devices. His 2019 video on the subject helped kick off a new search.

    The most dedicated fans researching the game were college students “Emily” and “Super Gamer Omega Clank.” The latter posted on Reddit four years ago that they found someone with the game on a Sony Ericsson W880i. It was encrypted, though, and as little as a few weeks ago, they said that their quest to extract it from that device was proving to be “hopeless.”

    Then, a breakthrough. The team managed to safely crack the phone’s encryption, extract Clone Home and archive it for anyone to download. Miraculously, it’s complete and fully playable, if a bit unpolished. Golden Bolt now believes that the game was actually developed not by Handheld Games but a company called JavaGround, which made Sony’s last few Java (J2ME) games. It may have been uploaded by accident to mobile networks like Cingular or Sprint for a brief period, then downloaded by a handful of people before being pulled.

    People who have played the game so far say it’s surprisingly good and even better than Going Mobile. It’s a wonderfully eccentric entry to the R&C canon (which now counts 17 titles), thanks to the nonsensical plot, solid mechanics, ability to play as two different Lombaxes and a gun called the “Ewezie” that turns your enemies into sheep.

    So why was Clone Home canceled? It may have been due to potential litigation between Sony and Handheld Games, The Golden Bolt speculated. In any case, it’s a gem for game preservationists and an amazing reward for the years of work put in by R&C fans.

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    Steve Dent

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  • Grab These PlayStation-Exclusive Action Games On Sale Right Now

    Grab These PlayStation-Exclusive Action Games On Sale Right Now

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    Screenshot: Insomniac Games

    Sony is currently running a pretty awesome sale for a number of its first-party games, particularly those in the action genre. Whether you’re looking to check out Nathan Drake’s swan song in Uncharted 4, Sam Porter Bridges’ strange trip through the apocalypse in Death Stranding, or Kratos’ dramatic shift into sad dad mode in 2018’s God of War, there’s a ton here to check out.

    Most of these deals are for PS4 versions, many of which you can upgrade to the PS5 version either for free or at a small cost. All of these deals run from now until April 1, 2024.

    We also threw in a list of action-adjacent games you may wish to check out as well.

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    Claire Jackson

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  • Massive Hack Reveals New Venom And X-Men Games Coming By 2030

    Massive Hack Reveals New Venom And X-Men Games Coming By 2030

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    The 1.3 million files leaked as part of the recent ransomware attack on Insomniac Games contain tons of confidential information, including Sony’s projected plans for all of the studio’s upcoming games on PlayStation 5 and beyond. Those alleged roadmaps include a standalone Venom game, a Ratchet and Clank sequel, multiplayer spin-offs, and multiple X-Men games by the year 2030 and beyond.

    Spider-Man 2’s New Web Wings Make It Feel Like A Proper Sequel

    It sounds like more than fans would have expected, even from Sony’s most prolific first-party studio. Two roadmaps are included in the leak, which was first reported by Australian cybersecurity site CyberDaily and is now widely circulating on social media.

    The first one begins in 2023 with Spider-Man 2 and shows a Venom game arriving in 2025, Wolverine launching in 2026, Spider-Man 3 coming in 2028, a new Ratchet and Clank coming in 2029, and the studio’s first X-Men game releasing by 2030. That slate then culminates with a “New IP” planned for 2031-2032.

    But video game development is messy and release dates are notoriously fickle and projects are often canceled, especially this early on. Another set of slides viewed by Kotaku, labeled “Insomniac Games Roadmap Extended” includes even more projects with slightly different dates. There, Wolverine is expected in 2025, followed by Spider-Man 3 in 2027, X-Men in 2029, a “New IP” in 2031,” X-Men 3 in 2033, and a second “New IP” in 2035. Multiplayer spin-offs are also sprinkled in there, with Spider-Man 2‘s online mode arriving in 2024, Wolverine’s online mode arriving in 2026, and X-Men’s Online mode arriving in 2028.

    That’s a ton of projected games and dates, so here’s a quick summary:

    • 2024: Spider-Man 2 multiplayer
    • 2025: Venom
    • 2025-2026: Wolverine
    • 2026: Wolverine multiplayer
    • 2027: Spider-Man 3
    • 2028: X-Men muliplayer
    • 2029-2030: X-Men
    • 2031-2032: New IP 1
    • 2035: New IP 2

    Insomniac’s future seems clear: spawn an entire new Marvel Cinematic Universe on PlayStation. And while we don’t have tons of details for these upcoming projects, one slide does give a pretty clear rundown of what fans can expect from the standalone Venom game. The game will apparently continue the storyline of Spider-Man 2 and setup Spider-Man 3, briding the games the same way Miles Morales did between the first two. Venom and various Spider-Heroes will be swappable as they fight through “Carnage-infected” NYC boroughs. Insomniac is estimating the game will be about 8-10 hours total.

    What fans can expect from the future of Insomniac’s Spider-Man series is murkier. Some of the materials reference the possibility of Spider-Man 3 being split into two parts. It seems like the studio will then shift fully over to X-Men by the end of the decade, though these plans are obviously subject to change. It’s possible the multiplayer spin-off will provide a live-service model for Sony to keep rolling out new missions and mini-story beats, though unless assisted by outside studios, that amount of post-launch work probably wouldn’t dovetail too well with Insomniac’s other ambitious plans.

    How exactly will Sony be paying for all this? Interestingly, another slide from the leaks shows the apparent terms of the PS5 maker’s licensing deal with Marvel for the X-Men games. The franchise will be all but exclusive to PlayStation until 2035, with over $600 million in “committments.” It’s a huge bet on the comic book mutants. We’ll see how it pays off by the time the PS6 comes out.

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    Ethan Gach

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  • PlayStation Fans Refuse To Throw Away Box Even After Sony Tells Them To

    PlayStation Fans Refuse To Throw Away Box Even After Sony Tells Them To

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    The official PlayStation UK Twitter account has decreed it’s “OK to throw away the cardboard box your PlayStation came in now,” but squirrelly fans aren’t convinced. What if they might actually one day need the dusty, frayed cardboard their PS4 arrived in 10 years ago?

    Hollow Knight: Silksong’s New Gameplay Trailer Is Living Rent-Free In Our Brains

    What if stockpiled boxes could solve the housing crisis? What if fans encounter a locked door that requires three PlayStation boxes to open it, and behind that door is a never-before-seen copy of an NC-17 Ratchet & Clank spinoff series, Ratchet & Klonopin? They want to know.

    But first, they require clarification—are we talking about the PS5 box, here, or the PS4 and PS3 boxes, too?

    “Yeah those too,” PlayStation said. “Unless you’re planning to build a PlayStation themed cardboard fort.”

    Huh. Good idea. People started posting defiant photos of their lonely boxes, perhaps to get a sense of available raw building material.

    “Why is it next to a mop this is upsetting,” PlayStation replied to one of those photos.

    “What if I need [my box] to stop Metal Gear, PlayStation UK?” one fan wondered.

    “Fair,” replied PlayStation.

    I don’t really get it. It seems like everyone has been holding onto their empty boxes except for me. Had I known, I would have tried to get an ant farm going in my Xbox 360 box, or something. The ants would have probably grown to a bionic size by now from all the traces of heavy metal.

    But while I don’t keep empty boxes and never managed to cultivate a family of ants, I have been holding onto my actual PS5, which PlayStation just announced a few new subscription gaming titles for. PlayStation Plus subscribers will gain access to NBA 2K23, Jurassic World Evolution 2, and indie darling Trek to Yomi beginning June 6.

    The NBA 2K23 Devin Booker doesn’t look like he’d keep a PlayStation carcass lying around, though. Do you? Have you heard of “recycling”? Make your case for keeping old boxes in the comments.

     

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    Ashley Bardhan

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