A patent filed by Sony in 2011 has been discovered and made public on NeoGAF. The patent is for in-game advertising. Now, I’m not talking about shameless ads on posters or billboards within a game’s world. No, this patent idea is much sleazier.

Titled Advertisement Scheme for Use with Interactive Content (that’s funny because it would be a damn scheme), the patent indicates that a message would appear onscreen during a gamer’s play session warning that person that an ad would pop up shortly. Gameplay would then be “suspended” and a commercial would run. After the ad, “at least a portion” of the gameplay would be rewound, and the game would continue.

Now, it should be noted that this patent probably won’t lead to anything, and it seems like this was just an idea that was brainstormed and entertained (possibly by drunk people). If it did, though, it would be really disgusting for a couple of reasons. For starters, it would interrupt gamers’ experiences and even ruin gameplay for individuals who are really invested in a game. Also, it would be horrible because we already pay $60 for games, so in-game advertising would mean that publishers are just getting more money and ruining our time with a game in the process.

Again, this probably won’t happen, and it’s a good thing, too. That said, it’s pretty foul to think that the people who make our consoles and games actually think of the possibilities that schemes — yes, schemes — like these could entail for their benefit.

Sony’s announced that yet another bout of PSN maintenance will begin on Thursday. It’ll start at approximately 8:00 am PDT and wrap up by 11:00pm PDT.

During this timeframe, services such as the PlayStation Store will be inaccessible. Related services, such as Account Management and Registration will also be yanked offline.

If you’ve set aside a Thursday gaming night, your plans aren’t entirely foiled. According to PlayStation Digital manager Matthew Harper, you’ll still be able to play online if you connect to PSN within 5 days prior to the start of this maintenance window. Better sign on quick – as there’s less than 24 hours left.

If you’re a huge fan of indie and retro games, then you’re likely to be super excited about Retro City Rampage. The game has the look of an old school NES game, and according to developer Brian Provinciano, it also has the feel of a 1980s classic.

In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Provinciano went into detail regarding the PlayStation Vita version of Retro City Rampage. The first thing worth noting is the visual design, which some gamers may worry will not translate well onto the smaller screen. It looks like that won’t be the case, because the game has been optimized to perform on the Vita, and Provinciano even designed a few filters to add a nostalgic touch. Dot-matrix simulation for a classic Game Boy vibe, anyone?

Additionally, the Vita’s touch screen will be put to use. Provinciano stated that certain mini-games would take advantage of the handheld’s unique features, and shop and customization menus will all support touch screen controls, so you can simply tap on the screen to make selections. If you’re a purist, though, you can just as easily use the face buttons, because that’s way more retro, yo!

Last but certainly not least, Retro City Rampage will feature cross-platform play, which means you can fire up a game session on your PlayStation 3 and then transfer it over to your Vita (and vice versa) to take with you to a boring wedding or family event! Now, transferring data like that may not exactly be retro (yo!), but it certainly is convenient!

No word on when Retro City Rampage will launch for the PlayStation 3 and Vita, but Provinciano did state that he’s working hard to get it out as soon as humanly possible. Watch out for this one!

Xbox original Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath launched to positive reviews when it was re-released with snazzy HD graphics on the PlayStation Network. A Vita port has been in the works, and developer Just Add Water is shooting for a June launch.

During the PlayStation Blogcast, the studio’s CEO Stewart Gilray revealed that work on the project had just started just over a month ago, reports Push Square. Despite that fact, however, Stranger’s Wrath on the Vita is coming along nicely, and the game is expected to hit Sony’s portable late next month. That’s certainly surprising, and it’s great to see development going so smoothly.

“We started work on [the Vita version of Stranger’s Wrath] about five and a half weeks ago,” said Gilray. “The guy who’s doing it had actually never touched a Vita before — he just plugged it in and read the documentation. He probably spent half a week reading the documentation and then the next week he already had the code running. He was surprised how quickly he managed to get things going.”

In addition to Stranger’s Wrath for Vita, Gilray announced that Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee should see a release on the PlayStation Network soon. The game was originally released as an Xbox exclusive during the console’s launch despite the fact that it was first planned for the PlayStation 2. No exact word on when the game will launch, but it did earn a few favorable reviews and awards at the time of its original release, so the HD remake could be a real treat to watch out for.

While we’re still awaiting Sony’s implementation of the PSOne emulator for PS Vita, a lone hacker has managed to get PSOne games up and running on the Vita, albeit unofficially. The feat was performed using a kernel exploit inside the emulated PSP environment. That’s right — this is essentially an emulator running inside an emulator.

The hacker, who wishes to remain anonymous, has also shared video proof above of the feat (via PSPKing.de). We couldn’t make out any performance issues, so games appear to be running smooth. However, there’s at least one show-stopping bug made obvious by the lack of sound. The hacker is attempting to fix this and if he succeeds, plans to release the source code.

It’s worth noting however that users of the publicly released Vita exploit (otherwise known as VHBL) will not be able to take advantage of this, as patching the emulator requires kernel-level access. Earlier this month, a complete dump of the PSP emulator flash0 memory surfaced, though the kernel exploit used to obtain those files remains under wraps. So far, Sony has been extremely diligent when it comes to patching up known exploits on the Vita, and with discoveries like this it’s not hard to understand why.

Previously announced solely for the PlayStation 3, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time will now be making its way to the PlayStation Vita, as well. It has also been revealed that the game will be released on both Sony platforms on the same day sometime during its planned fall release date.

Players will be able to save their game data via cloud storage and switch between the PlayStation 3 and Vita versions of Thieves in Time as they wish. This should make it a great deal of fun playing the heck out of the game at home and then transferring it over to the portable to get some out-of-the-house gaming done. It’s currently unknown whether the game needs to purchased for both platforms in order for this to work, but let’s hope that’s not the case, because really, it’s hard to imagine anyone buying a game twice just to switch between home console and handheld.

Sony has stated that the two versions of Thieves in Time will be identical. The dual analog layout of the Vita will allow players to have the same type of control that they would on the PlayStation 3. Additionally, the handheld version will utilize the Vita’s gyroscopic features. For example, some projectiles will be controlled by tilting the handheld.

It’s great to see a game like Thieves in Time landing on the Vita. Here’s hoping this paves the way for some more Sly Cooper titles on the handheld device down the road.

Already released on PS3, Konami’s pinned a release date on the PS Vita version of its Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. It’s coming June 12, comprised of PS2 classics Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Interestingly, the date is actually two weeks ahead of when Japan will get it. No word on when it’ll hit Europe yet.

The title highlights Konami’s ‘Transfarring’ capability, which allows gamers to load their save data seamlessly across both platforms. That means you can switch between the PS3 and Vita at any time and resume your progress. It isn’t the first time we’ve seen such a feature demonstrated, but it’s still nifty.

While it’s mostly a carbon copy of the PS3 HD Collection, sans the omission of PSP title Peace Walker, Konami hasn’t passed up the opportunity to utilize the Vita’s touch-screen and rear touchpad. Through touch-based gestures, players can control the camera and cycle through weapons.

A job listing on Next-gen.biz indicates that developer Criterion Games is working on a new game for the PlayStation Vita. The opening is for a software engineer, and after different mentions of both Burnout and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, it’s more than likely that the game in question will be a racer.

According to self-proclaimed internet extraordinaire Superannuation, the listing originally stated that the game was to be released on the Vita specifically. Now, however, there’s no mention of Sony’s portable, and the job post instead mentions “new” and “other” platforms. Considering the Vita was the latest device to hit the market, it could be the new platform the listing is referring to.

Last year, Criterion released Burnout Crash! via digital download, and before that, the developer worked on Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Of course, that was back in 2010, so it makes sense that the studio is planning a new game. The likely candidate is the next Need for Speed title, which would definitely be a good racer to take to the Vita.

Ubisoft is celebrating the warm month of May with some impressive deals on a bunch of games. If you managed to blaze through Max Payne 3 and/or are currently disliking Diablo III and you need something to play, you may want to check out Ubisoft’s discounts, which were announced on the PlayStation Blog.

PlayStation Plus members get 50 percent off, while all other PlayStation 3 gamers will be able to snag some titles for 30 percent off. The sale covers a wide variety of games, from smaller downloadable titles such as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game to digital versions of retail games like Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. DLC is also discounted, and HD remakes like Beyond Good & Evil HD are included in Ubisoft’s May sale, as well.

You’ll find the full list of discounted games below, with prices for PlayStation Plus users and standard PlayStation Network folks. Personally, I would recommend Outland to anyone who hasn’t already played it. The game is a beauty to behold, and its strong soundtrack and great platforming/bullet hell gameplay make it a truly special little download. more »

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan’s PlayStation Vita Heaven event in March brought a wealth of announcements for the company’s new portable, including the revelation that Phantasy Star Online 2 was in development. Unearthed by this week’s issue of Famitsu, it’s been revealed that Sony is prepping another Heaven event in June. A specific date wasn’t mentioned, though it’ll likely take place sometime after E3.

Viewers of the last Heaven event enjoyed several game trailers, including that of Persona 4 The Golden. It’ll be interesting to see what Sony has in store for us the second time around. For Japan, it’ll be hard to top the Phantasy Star announcement, but we’ll see.