This week on the North American PlayStation Store, you’ll find a Ubisoft Publisher Sale on PlayStation 4 games, a Sony Santa Monica Studios sale on a wide variety of games, and more.
Here’s the games on sale through the PlayStation Store this week, with many deals ending on May 15 or May 16 at 8am PT/11am ET:
Ubisoft Publisher Sale
PlayStation 4
- Assassin’s Creed Chronicles Trilogy – $9.99
- Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag – $11.99
- Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag Season Pass – $7.99
- Assassin’s Creed Syndicate – $19.99
- Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Gold Edition – $27.99
- Assassin’s Creed Syndicate ‘Jack the Ripper’ – $7.49
- Assassin’s Creed The Ezio Collection – $29.99
- Assassin’s Creed Triple Pack: Black Flag, Unity, Syndicate – $29.69
- Assassin’s Creed Unity – $11.99
- Far Cry 4 – $15.99
- Far Cry 4 + Far Cry Primal Bundle – $34.99
- Far Cry 4 Gold Edition – $23.99
- Far Cry 4 Season Pass – $11.99
- Far Cry Primal – $19.99
- For Honor – $44.99
- For Honor Deluxe Edition – $49.69
- For Honor Gold Edition – $69.99
- Ghost Recon Wildlands Deluxe Edition – $51.09
- Ghost Recon Wildlands Gold Edition – $69.99
- Ghost Recon Wildlands – $44.99
- Hasbro Family Fun Pack Super Edition – $29.99
- Just Dance 2017 – $24.99
- Monopoly Family Fun Pack – $7.99
- Rainbow Six Siege – $24.99
- Rainbow Six Siege Complete Edition – $59.99
- Rainbow Six Siege Year 2 Gold Edition – $47.99
- Rainbow Six Siege ‘Gemstones Bundle’ – $8.99
- Rayman Legends – $13.99
- Rocksmith 2014 Edition Remastered – $19.99
- Steep – $29.99
- Steep Gold Edition – $35.99
- The Crew – $14.99
- The Crew ‘Calling All Units’ – $17.49
- The Division – $19.99
- The Division and Rainbow Six Siege Bundle – $41.99
- The Division Gold Edition – $31.49
- The Division Season Pass – $19.99
- Trackmania Turbo – $15.99
- Trials Fusion – $7.99
- Trials Fusion: Awesome Max Edition – $15.99
- Trials of the Blood Dragon – $5.99
- Watch Dogs – $11.99
- Watch Dogs Season Pass – $7.99
Sony Santa Monica Studios Sale
PlayStation 4
- Avant-Garde Bundle: Journey, Flower, The Unfinished Swan, Bound – $24.99
- Bound – $10.99
- Classics PS4 Bundle: Kinetica, Twisted Metal Black, War of the Monsters – $7.99
- Escape Plan – $6.99
- Escape Plan Ultimate – $7.49
- Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture – $4.99
- Fat Princess Adventures – $2.49
- Flower – $3.49
- Flow – $2.99
- God of War III Remastered – $5.99
- Here They Lie – $10.99
- Hohokum – $3.99
- Journey – $5.99
- Journey Collector’s Edition – $12.49
- Kinetica – $3.99
- Sound Shapes – $3.99
- Sound Shapes Ultimate Bundle – $9.99
- The Order 1886 – $3.99
- The Rhythmic Bundle: Hohokum, Sound Shapes – $4.94
- The Unfinished Swan – $5.99
- Twisted Metal Black – $2.49
- War of the Monsters – $3.49
PlayStation 3
- Blast Factor Bundle – $2.49
- Calling All Cars – $2.49
- Carnival Island – $2.49
- Classics PS3 Bundle: Calling All Cars, Everyday Shooter, Twisted Metal Black, War of the Monsters – $4.99
- Datura – $4.99
- detuned – $2.99
- Everyday Shooter – $2.49
- Fat Princess – $0.99
- Flower – $3.49
- Flow – $2.99
- God of War: Ascension – $2.49
- God of War: Ascension Ultimate Edition – $7.49
- God of War Collection – $3.74
- God of War HD – $2.49
- God of War II HD – $2.49
- God of War: Origins Collection – $2.49
- Hohokum – $3.99
- Journey – $5.99
- Linger in Shadows – $2.00
- Multiplayer Mayhem Bundle: God of War Ascension, PlayStation All-Stars, Twisted Metal, Starhawk Ultimate Edition, Warhawk Bundle – $14.99
- PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale – $3.49
- PlayStation All-Stars ‘Complete DLC Bundle’ – $12.49
- PlayStation All-Stars Ultimate Bundle – $14.99
- Sorcery – $1.49
- Sound Shapes – $3.99
- Sound Shapes Ultimate Bundle – $9.99
- Starhawk Ultimate Edition – $3.99
- The Experimental Bundle: Datura, detuned, Linger in Shadows – $4.99
- The Unfinished Swan – $5.99
- Twisted Metal – $2.49
- Twisted Metal Black – $2.49
- Twisted Metal Ultimate Bundle – $14.99
- Warhawk Bundle – $3.99
- War of the Monsters – $1.99
PlayStation Vita
- Escape Plan – $6.99
- Everyday Shooter (PSP) – $1.99
- Flow – $2.99
- God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP) – $3.74
- God of War Collection – $3.74
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta (PSP) – $3.74
- Hohokum – $3.99
- PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale – $3.49
- Sound Shapes – $3.99
- Sound Shapes Ultimate Bundle – $9.99
- The Con (PSP) – $1.19
- The Unfinished Swan – $5.99
PSOne Classics
- Twisted Metal 2 – $1.49
- Twisted Metal – $1.49
New Release Deals (Sale Price, PlayStation Plus Price)
- Birthdays the Beginning (PS4) – $29.99
- Blade & Bones (PS4) – $13.49 (PS+)
- Butcher (PS4) – $8.99, $7.99
- Butcher: Special Edition Bundle (PS4) – $11.69, $10.39
- Digerati Bundle 5 Pack Part 1: Paranautical Activity, The Sun and Moon, Three Fourths Home Extended Edition, Vertical Drop Heroes HD, Slain Back from Hell (PS4) – $7.49 (PS+)
- Last Stitch Goodnight (PS4) – $11.04, $10.39
- Revenant Saga (PS4, PS3, PS Vita) – $13.49 (PS+)
Other Deals (Sale Price, PS+ Price)
- Blast ‘Em Bunnies (PS4, PS Vita) – $2.49
- EA Sports UFC 2 (PS4) – $19.99, $15.99
- EA Sports UFC 2 Deluxe Edition (PS4) – $24.99, $19.99
- Guns, Gore and Cannoli (PS4) – $5.99, $4.99
- Knee Deep (PS4) – $11.99, $10.04
- PixelJunk Bundle: 4am, Eden, Eden Encore, Monsters, Monsters Encore, Racers 2nd Lap, Shooter, Shooter 2, SideScroller (PS3) – $9.59
- Super Blast Deluxe (PS4) – $4.79, $2.99
Freebies
- 3on3 FreeStyle PlayStation Plus Bonus Pack May (PS4) – PS+
- Birthdays the Beginning Demo (PS4)
- Gravity Rush 2 Dark Angel Costume (PS4)
- Gravity Rush 2 NieR: Automata Costume Pack (PS4)
- Horizon Zero Dawn Spanish Language Pack (PS4)
- Paladins Viktor Soldier+ Skin Collection (PS4) – PS+
- Ride 2 Free Bikes Pack 7 (PS4)
- Street Fighter V CFN Beta (PS4) – PS+
PS4 Pre-Order Deals
- Nex Machina – $15.99 (PS+)
- RiME – $26.99 (PS+)
- South Park: The Fractured But Whole – $59.99 (includes South Park: The Stick of Truth)
- The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind Upgrade – $35.99 (PS+)
- The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind Collector’s Edition Upgrade – $53.99 (PS+)
*All prices are in USD and may be higher in Canada.
Are you planning on buying anything this week?
10 Game Mechanics That Need to Evolve (or Die)
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10 Game Mechanics That Need to Evolve (or Die)
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Tutorials
Recommendation: Banish them entirely. Use contextual in-game scenarios to showcase more complex tasks. Let players play! They'll figure it out or teach one another.
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Item Pickups
Recommendation: Small, manageable inventories are great. Don't design quests and games that require the player to have 37 pinecones on hand just in case.
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Fetch Quests
Recommendation: Provide a main quest that is so expansive and diverse it allows for organic tangents that feel important. Fetch quests are artificial bulk. Get rid of them. Invest the time in a main quest that satisfies for 40+ hours instead and my time will feel valued.
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Inventory Systems
Recommendation: It doesn’t take a lot of effort to find creative ways for game worlds to make sense. In The Witcher 3's case, why not add an option for the banks in Novigrad to not only exchange currency, but allow you store items in safety deposit boxes?
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Minimaps
Recommendation: Allow for maps in towns. Outside of that, no map, no icons, until you explore the area. Create a world that can help players find their way intuitively without a map using landmarks, signposts, and NPCs that can offer more than grunts and stock expressions.
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Quicksave/Quickload
Recommendation: If games insist on traditional save/load mechanics, integrate it into the control scheme. Here’s a freebie, double-tap the touchpad to save, hold it to load. I’m positive that will lead to absolutely zero accidental saves...
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Character Momentum
Recommendation: Just pay Naughty Dog for their player momentum algorithms and be done with it.
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Fast Travel
Recommendation: All killer, no filler. Don’t make me backtrack unnecessarily. Use fast travel any time it keeps a player’s progress moving forward and avoid ever making a player move backward.
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Weapon Types
Recommendation: Have fun with weapon types. If you must have an axe and a sword, make them play differently. Not just heavy swing vs light swing, let it impact the way a character is responded to, let it affect the way a character develops, etc. If your game can’t include explosive teddy bears, then do some research to find the medieval equivalent to one (there totally is one).
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Dialog Options
Recommendation: Player choice will grow and become more complex as technology (and budgets) advance. But if a game cannot (or does not) provide the foundation for meaningful dialog options, don’t include it. It weakens your story and insults the player.
